The Detachment and Compartmentalization Inventory (DCI): An assessment tool for two potentially distinct forms of dissociation

ABSTRACT

While evidence suggests a division between two qualitatively distinct forms of dissociation, no scale has been specifically designed to differentiate between them. This study describes the development and validation of the Detachment and Compartmentalization Inventory (DCI). The DCI was developed from dissociation theory, 29 existing dissociation scales and expert opinion. An initial pilot study was conducted which assessed readability, explored validity and reduced items before the DCI was administered online to 89 nonclinical and 105 clinical participants. The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ), and Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) were included in the survey battery. The DCI exhibited good internal reliability, discriminant validity, convergent validity, construct validity and concurrent validity. The final version containing 22-items, is self-administered, grounded in the theoretical literature and supported by initial psychometric evaluation. It has 10 items assessing compartmentalization, 10 items assessing detachment and two items examining valid responding. The DCI could detect compartmentalization and detachment, and was designed for clinical research and for screening patients.

KEYWORDS:

• Dissociation
• detachment
• compartmentalization
• assessment
• inventory

Acknowledgments

For assistance with this research the authors acknowledge, Ellert Nijenhuis, Onno van der Hart, Christine Forner, Christa Krüger, Paula Thomson, Robert Slater, Adah Sachs, Joan Golston, Jan Ewing, Lyndall Stafford, Chris Marks, John Bligh Nutting, Phillip Benjamin, Sophie Holmes, Margret Walker, Mary Corry, Tania Blomfield, Mary Harvey, Kate McMaugh, Maria Shannon, Diana Phillips and Joan Haliburn.