Comparability of MMPI-2-RF with the MMPI-2 in assessing psychiatric patients: a shortfall

Assessment of mental health problems with MMPI instruments has a long tradition in Italy beginning in 1948. This study examined how the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) compares with MMPI-2 in evaluating psychiatric patients in Italian patients. We obtained a sample of psychiatric inpatients that were referred to the University Hospital in Rome, Italy who were administered the MMPI-2. This study examines the utility of the MMPI-2-RF, and how its performance compares with MMPI-2 scales in this contemporary clinical sample. Several areas were examined: to evaluate whether the new MMPI-2-RF scales are sensitivity to mental health symptoms that are addressed by the original MMPI scales, and whether the MMPI-2-RF scales are sensitive to gender specific symptoms. These data show the limitations of the MMPI-2-RF in mental health assessment. The MMPI-2-RF scales have little relationship to the traditional MMPI-2 measures and are more highly related to several MMPI-2 content scales; in addition, they have lower sensitivity to mental health problems than the MMPI-2 clinical scales. Finally, the use of non-gendered norms in the MMPI-2-RF results in potential interpretive bias since men and women respond differently on a number of scales but are interpreted as equivalent using non-gendered norms.