Data Collection for the Personality Assessment Inventory Revision: How You Can Help

Considered one of the most important innovations in personality assessment, the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) offers a broad and objective look at an individual’s personality. This comprehensive measure provides clinicians with thorough insight into clinical concerns, treatment considerations, and potential psychopathological issues.

Available in versions specific to the needs of adolescents and adults, the PAI is a key tool for mental health professionals. As tests are such essential measures for mental health, revising them based on current data can be beneficial for clinicians and their clients. After all, populations change over time, and we at PAR see the value in adapting our products to suit these changes. That’s why our team is working on enhancing the PAI by collecting and implementing new data to make the test more applicable, but we need the help of our customers to do so.

The importance of updating the PAI

At PAR, collecting new data and amending our products to suit these findings is how we ensure that our tests remain the gold standard for psychological assessments. The plan for improving the PAI involves revising and adding items and subscales and providing updated community, college, and clinical samples. Our goal is to acquire more data about specific populations to better understand how the PAI can aid mental health professionals in their roles and, in turn, help the individuals they serve.

For this assessment update, our primary focus populations include:

• Individuals in alcohol and substance use treatment settings (detox and inpatient)
• Individuals in correctional or criminal justice settings, including sex offenders and interpersonal violence perpetrators
• Individuals with current aggression and significant assault history
• Individuals currently on precautions for suicide, with a history of suicide attempt (past 6 months), or with a history of self-harm
• Individuals receiving treatment at pain clinics (specifically somatic disorder patients)
• Individuals with traumatic brain injury
• Individuals undergoing disability evaluations
• Individuals undergoing forensic evaluations (e.g. competency to stand trial, criminal responsibility)

This focus will help us tailor the PAI for improved accuracy to today’s clinical populations.

What to expect as a research partner

PAR welcomes professionals trained in administering, scoring, and interpreting psychological tests to collect data on the items we develop and revise. For the PAI update, expectations of our data collectors include:

• Recruiting participants based on predefined qualifications, specific areas of interest, or clinical diagnoses
• Completing the PAI-Revised examiner survey on Qualtrics to answer questions about proctoring, participant diagnoses and treatment, etc.
• Proctoring the self-report administration of the PAI-Revised and supplemental demographic survey on Qualtrics and/or PARiConnect

You will be asked to submit forms and information for registration, and you can always come to us with any questions about the process or expectations for our research partners.

Why take part in our PAI data collection?

The work that you do is significant, and PAR recognizes that. We can’t create our products without the contributions of mental health professionals like you who provide the clinical, standardization, and reliability samples needed to help us create and refine our assessments. We value your experience with administering the PAI or with working with special populations, and that’s why we’re seeking your collaboration on this paramount update to one of our core tests.

Your expertise will help drive improved outcomes for other mental health professionals and their clients, and we want to reward you for your part in that. PAR is offering a variety of incentives for customers who participate in our data collection for the PAI enhancement, including free PAI administration and scoring, payment for examiners and participants, and other opportunities.

Ready to take the next step? Just follow the instructions below:

• Please view this 7-minute video to learn more about this research project and what we’re looking for in research partners.
• If you think your organization would be a good fit, complete the linked 12 question survey after viewing the video. The password to access the survey can be found at the end of the video.

We’re grateful for the support of our customers and for the outstanding work they do in developing mental health resources, and we hope that you’ll join us in this next upgrade of the PAI. We encourage you to learn more about our Data Collection Program, and we look forward to seeing the positive impact that this test revision can have.