Quick Personality Assessment Schedule (PAS-Q): validation of a brief screening test for personality disorders in a population of psychiatric outpatients.

Objective: The internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and validity of the Quick Personality Assessment Schedule (PAS-Q), as a screening instrument for personality disorders were studied in a random sample of 195 Dutch psychiatric outpatients, using the SCID-II as a gold standard.

Method: All patients were interviewed with the PAS-Q. With an interval of 1 to 2 weeks, they were interviewed with the SCID-II. Three weeks later the PAS-Q was re-administered.

Results: According to the SCID-II, 97 patients (50%) were suffering from a personality disorder. The PAS-Q correctly classified 81% of all participants. Sensitivity and specificity were 0.80 and 0.82, respectively.

Conclusion: The results provide evidence for the usefulness of the PAS-Q as a screening instrument for personality disorders in clinical populations.