Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms - Second Edition (SIRS-2)

Purpose: Assesses feigning of psychiatric symptoms

Age: 18-100 years

Time: Approximately 30-40 minutes

The Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms, 2nd Edition (SIRS-2) was developed to assess deliberate distortions in the self-report of symptoms.

Each scale produces useful information on how a particular client may distort or fabricate his or her symptoms. The primary focus of the SIRS-2 is on the evaluation of feigning and the manner in which it is likely to occur—for example, exaggeration of symptom severity versus fabrication of symptomatology.

Key Features

• Demonstrates excellent discriminant validity for feigning versus genuine samples
• Designed to detect response styles commonly associated with feigning and allows for classification as feigning (definite or probable) or genuine responding, as well as identification of inconsistent and other problematic response styles that have implications for therapeutic dynamics and other treatment considerations.
• Revised manual updates the malingering literature with special attention to detection strategies and their clinical applications to feigned mental disorders.
• Two security templates are provided to block item content for instances in which evaluators are legally required to produce SIRS-2 item responses.
• Thirty-two of the 172 items are repeated inquiries to help you detect inconsistency of responding.

The wealth of empirical support established for the measure gives users confidence in the validity of the SIRS-2 for forensic populations. This is particularly important as findings of psychological evaluations are often closely scrutinised during court proceedings.