Keywords: personality disorders, elderly, general practice, Gerontological Personality Disorders Scale (GPS), validation, informants

"Detecting personality disorders in older adults in general practice - The evaluation and validation of the Gerontological personality disorders scale"

This project focused on recognizing personality disorders in the elderly in general practice. Although an estimated one in eight people over 60 in the general population has a personality disorder, these disabling problems are often not recognized as such. These older people present a challenge to healthcare professionals including the general practitioner who, given his pivotal role in healthcare, comes into frequent contact with them. Besides the fact that elderly people with personality disorders have an increased care consumption, there is also a regular occurrence of (in)direct treatment rejection, non-compliance, less effective interventions (for other disorders) and a troubled doctor-patient relationship. Research shows that there are effective and feasible treatment options for this group. However, the recognition of personality disorders in the elderly is complex. In addition to factors such as agism, atypical expressions and a highly complex clinical picture as a result of comorbid psychological and somatic disorders, the lack of suitable (diagnostic) instruments also plays an important role. Therefore, in this study, the Gerontological Personality Disorders Scale (GPS), a short and age-specific instrument consisting of a self-report and informant version, was evaluated within the general practice. Aspects such as reliability, validity as well as practical usability and acceptance were investigated. The study was approached by several methods, including a literature review, cross-sectional studies, and a mixed-methods study.

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