Psychological Screening Inventory

Richard I. Lanyon, Ph.D. © 1973, 1978

The Psychological Screening Inventory (PSI) is a brief, non-threatening, easily administered and easily interpreted mental health screening device ideal for situations where professional time may be at a premium. Appropriate with adolescents through adults, the PSI identifies people who might benefit from more extensive examination and professional attention.

Applications

• In community clinics, hospitals, high school and college counseling offices, referral agencies, medical facilities, courts, reformatories and similar settings.
• Decision making about referrals either for counseling or to mental health agencies.
• Research and evaluation, such as appraising the effects of treatment or social intervention or in community mental health research.

Description

Composed of 130 items, the PSI can usually be completed in 15 minutes and is suitable for either individual or group administration. Respondents answer true or false on a single-page Question/Answer Sheet.

A number of general guidelines were followed in the development of the PSI items:

(a) Objectionable item content was avoided.

(b) Items were kept short.

(c) Content validity was regarded as an important characteristic.

(d) Care was exercised in the wording of items to reduce the influence of social desirability on responding.

(e) Each scale was arranged to maximize the likelihood that the scales would be balanced in terms of the direction of keying.

(f) Scales were constructed to be non-overlapping in order to facilitate statistical comparisons.

(g) Scale concepts were chosen to emphasize practical utility, with non-technical names for the scales, and to permit simple cutting scores.

The five PSI scales provide a maximum amount of information, and include: Alienation, Defensiveness, Discomfort, Expression, Social Nonconformity

Reliability and Validity

The internal consistencies for 100 college students ranged from .51 to .85, using K-R Formula 20. Test-retest stability over four weeks ranged from .66 to .95. Correlations between the PSI and several well-known tests are presented in the manual, including the California Psychological Inventory, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Maudsley Personality Inventory, Eysenck Personality Inventory, Wonderlic and Otis. In addition, PSI summary statistics are presented for an unusually large number of diverse clinical and normal groups.

Hand Scoring

The PSI can be completely hand scored in about 10 minutes using scoring templates. The PSI profile sheet for males and females provides a visual display of scores in standardized form. Materials required include a manual and a set of templates, as well as one question and answer sheet and one profile sheet per respondent.

Prices

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