Journal of occupational medicine. : official publication of the Industrial Medical Association
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Comparative Study
A comparison between the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and the 'Mensana Clinic Back Pain Test' for validating the complaint of chronic back pain.
Reports on the efficacy of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) for selecting patients with valid complaints of pain have been equivocal. The Mensana Clinic Back Pain Test (MPT) was able to predict, with some degree of success, patients who had a definite organic pathologic condition. However, the MMPI measures personality traits, whereas the MPT measures the impact of pain on a patient's life. ⋯ Of the 31 patients scoring 18 points or greater on the MPT, only 26% had objective physical findings that were considered moderate or severe. Only the F scale (faking badly) of the MMPI correlated with objective physical abnormalities (r = .21340, P less than .033). However, 60% of the patients with T scores of less than 70 on the F scale had objective findings, whereas 75% of patients with T scores greater than 70 had objective physical findings.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)