Reducing Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory defensiveness: effect of specialized instructions on retest validity in a sample of preoperative bariatric patients

It appears to be important to include a psychometric measure that includes a validity scale in the evaluation process, because patients might be motivated to present in a defensive or overly virtuous light in fear that a negative evaluation from the psychologist would adversely affect a decision regarding their candidacy for surgery. It is recommended that patients who are defensive in their testing be asked to repeat the test battery.