Brief Symptom Inventory

This is an introductory report for the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), a brief psychological self-report symptom scale. The BSI was developed from its longer parent instrument, the SCL-90-R, and psychometric evaluation reveals it to be an acceptable short alternative to the complete scale. Both test--retest and internal consistency reliabilities are shown to be very good for the primary symptom dimensions of the BSI, and its correlations with the comparable dimensions of the SCL-90-R are quite high. In terms of validation, high convergence between BSI scales and like dimensions of the MMPI provide good evidence of convergent validity, and factor analytic studies of the internal structure of the scale contribute evidence of construct validity. Several criterion-oriented validity studies have also been completed with this instrument.

The BSI is a 53-item self-report scale used to measure nine primary symptom dimensions (somatization, obsessive-compulsive behavior, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism), and three global indices [Global Severity Index (GSI), Positive Symptom Distress Index (PSDI), and Positive Symptom Total (PST)]. The BSI is a shortened version of the SCL-90 (Symptom Check List-90), a widely used scale assessing current psychological distress and symptoms in both patient and non-patient populations. The BSI measures the experience of symptoms in the past seven days including the day the BSI was completed. Answers are on a 5-point scale, from 0 = "not at all", to 4 = "extremely". The BSI measures current psychological status and distress. Raw scores were converted to T-scores using age and sex appropriate non-patient norms. The BSI has high scale-by-scale correlations with the SCL-90. The BSI also has high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha: 0.71-0.85), test retest reliability, and convergent, discriminant, and construct validity.

Scales: Somatization (SOM), Obsessive-Compulsive (O-C), Interpersonal Sensitivity (I-S), Depression (DEP), Anxiety, (ANX), Hostility, (HOS), Phobic Anxiety (PHOB), Paranoid Ideation (PAR), Psychoticism (PSY), and Additional Items, the Global Severity Index (GSI), The Positive Symptom Distress Index, (PSDI), and the Positive Symptom Total (PST).

Values are between 0.00 and 4.00 except for the PST which as values between 0 and 53.

Click on the Brief Symptom Inventory button on the Main Menu to enter the BSI data. Select the Brief Symptom Inventory report or the Brief Symptom Inventory chart to output the data.

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This page was last updated on 02/22/2005