Attorneys’ Attitudes Toward Coaching Forensic Clients on the MMPI–2: Replication and Extension of Attorney Survey by Wetter and Corrigan (1995)

Abstract

In this study we replicated and extended Wetter and Corrigan’s (1995) commonly cited convenience survey of attorneys and law students regarding their attitudes toward coaching litigants prior to forensic psychological testing. We conducted a target survey of attorneys practicing in specialty areas of law where it is common to enlist psychological testing as part of legal proceedings (family law, juvenile law, personal injury, criminal law, social security/disability, workman’s compensation). The estimated prevalence of attorneys who endorse providing their clients with information about the presence of MMPI–2 validity scales is 53%, with a 95% confidence interval of ±7%. Compared with Wetter and Corrigan’s results of 63%, this represents a slightly lower estimate of attorneys who indicate a positive attitude toward coaching their clients on the presence and purpose of validity scales. More than 70% of attorneys, in both surveys, believe they should provide general advice and preparation for psychological testing to their clients. Survey results were further analyzed as a function of attorney age, years in practice, and specialty area. Implications are discussed in relation to future research and the practice of forensic psychological evaluations.

Acknowledgments

Portions of this study were presented in August 2016 at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Denver, CO.

Notes

1 It is commonplace in psychological surveys of attorneys to not report response rates, or to use methods where response rates are not possible (e.g., snowball sampling, convenience sampling).

2 Data on ABA membership were obtained from Lake Group Media (2017).

3 Percentages do not total 100 due to missing data for 4.9%.

4 Aggregate percentages for Wetter and Corrigan (1995) were calculated by weighted n for their convenience samples of two sets of attorneys (n = 38 and 32) and one school of law students (n = 150).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded in part by the Ball State University internal grant program.