RELIABILITY OF THE KAROLINSKA PSYCHODYNAMIC PROFILE (KAPP) AMONG PATIENTS WITH AND WITHOUT PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCE-ABUSE DISORDERS

Background: The Karolinska Psychodynamic Profile (KAPP) is a rating in strument, based on psychoanalytic theory, that assesses different aspe cts of character from clinical interviews, The aim of the present stud y was to examine interrater reliability of the KAPP in a sample of pat ients with and without psychoactive substance abuse disorders, using i nterviewers and a reliability judge who had not been trained by the de velopers of the instrument, Methods: The sample comprised 47 consecuti ve patients with and without psychoactive substance abuse disorders, w ho were referred to an outpatient psychotherapy unit specializing in t he treatment of substance abuse and dependence, The two interviewers a nd the reliability judge had not been trained by the developers of the KAPP, and they worked outside the setting where it was constructed. R esults: The intraclass correlations were satisfactory for the total sa mple (mean 0.84, median 0.89, range 0.62-0.95), as well as for various subsamples, such as males and females, and patients with and without substance abuse disorders. Conclusions: The results show that intervie wers and a reliability judge who had not been trained by the developer s of the KAPP can attain high interrater reliability in a sample of pa tients with substance abuse disorders. Some recommendations for conduc ting KAPP interviews are given.