Brief Symptom Inventory

Psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals can use the BSI instrument to measure patient progress during and after treatment to monitor change. BASI also provides outcomes measurement for treatment programs and providers through aggregated patient information.

Benefits

• Assess patients at intake for psychological problems.
• Objectively support care management decisions.
• Measure patient progress during and after treatment to monitor change.
• Provide outcomes measurement for treatment programs and providers through aggregated patient information.

Features

The BSI instrument provides an overview of a patient's symptoms and their intensity at a specific point in time.

• Takes 8-10 minutes to complete, making it well-suited for repeated administrations over time to evaluate patient progress.
• The Global Severity Index helps quantify a patient's severity-of-illness and provides a single composite score for measuring the outcome of a treatment program.
• The reliability, validity, and utility of the BSI instrument have been tested in more than 400 research studies.
• Nine Symptom Scales are scored: Somatization (SOM), Obsessive Compulsive (O-C), Interpersonal Sensitivity (I-S), Depression (DEP), Anxiet (ANX), Hostility (HOS), Phobi Anxiety (PHOB), Paranoid Ideation (PAR), and Psychoticism (PSY).
• Includes three Global Indices: Global Severity Index (GSI), Positive Symptoms Distress Index (PSDI) and Positive Symptom Total (PST).

Sample Reports

Profile Report: presents raw and normalized T scores for each of the nine Primary Symptom Dimensions and the three Global Indices.

Interpret Report: provides a narrative overview of the client's symptoms at the global level and specific statements describing the individual symptom scale scores. 

Progress Report: monitors a client’s progress over time.

• Sample Profile Report
• Sample Interpretive Report
• Sample BSI Progress Report

The following resources are available for BSI.

Case Studies

• Measuring Both Sides of the Transplant Equation: Psychological Tests Help Evaluate Organ Recipients and Donors
• Medically oriented psychological tests help improve care for breast surgery candidates

Q-global Training Series

• Module 1: Gaining Access to Q-global
• Module 2: Signing in and setting up your account
• Module 3: Managing sub-accounts
• Module 4: How to generate reports

Frequently asked questions follow. Click on a question to see the response.

Do any of the BSI reports contain all of the normative groups?

The BSI Interpretive and Profile Reports provide information on all three adult normative groups: nonpatient, psychiatric outpatient, and psychiatric inpatient. The BSI Profile Report graphically displays the data using the norm group of your choice. The BSI Interpretive Report graphically displays the data using the nonpatient norms. The other T scores are listed below this profile graph.

How can I find out the statistical relationships between the BSI test and SCL-90-R assessments?

See Table 13 in the BSI manual.

Is the BSI available in other languages?

The BSI assessment is available in Spanish and French for Canada. Forms for the Spanish version are available for use with the MICROTEST Q system and hand-scoring. Forms for the French for Canada version are available for use with hand-scoring only.

What is the difference between the SCL-90-R assessment and the original SCL-90 assessment?

The SCL-90 assessment is an unnormed precursor to the SCL-90-R assessment. The original SCL-90 anxiety scale did not work and its obsessive-compulsive scale was very weak. After the assessment was revised, norms were developed for the revised assessment (SCL-90-R), and the BSI assessment was developed from that. Most research has been conducted using the SCL-90-R and BSI instruments.