A shortened form of the BSI instrument, The Brief Symptom Inventory 18 (BSI® 18) gathers patient-reported data to measure psychological distress and psychiatric disorders in medical and community populations. Guidance on using this test in your telepractice
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Brief Symptom Inventory 18
BSI 18
A shortened form of the BSI instrument, The Brief Symptom Inventory 18 (BSI® 18) gathers patient-reported data to measure psychological distress and psychiatric disorders in medical and community populations. Guidance on using this test in your telepracticeOverview
Product Details
Resources
- Publication date:
- 2001
- Age range:
- Individuals 18 years and older
- Qualification level:
- B
- Completion time:
- Approx. 4 minutes (18 items; 5-point rating scale)
- Administration:
- Paper-and-pencil, computer or online administration
- Telepractice:
- Guidance on using this test in your telepractice
BSI 18 provides an overview of a patient's symptoms and their intensity at a specific point in time. It can be used by psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, nurses and other health care professionals.
Benefits
- Assess patients at intake for psychological problems.
- Measure symptom change and patient progress during and after treatment.
- Support managed care decisions.
- Provide outcomes measurement for treatment programs.
Features
BSI 18 is the latest in an integrated series of test instruments that include the SCL-90-R, BSI (53 questions), and DPRS instruments.
- Three symptom scales: Somatization, Depression, and Anxiety.
- Global Severity Index helps measure overall psychological distress level.
- Dimension and global scores correlate highly (i.e., > .90) with analogous score from the SCL-90-R test based on a large community population.
- Adult community norms are based on 1,122 individuals (605 males and 517 females). Oncology norms are based on 1,543 individuals (802 males and 741 females).
Sample Reports
Profile reports present raw and normalized T scores for each of the three Primary Symptom Dimensions and the Global Severity Index. Progress reports monitor a client’s progress over time.
The following resources are available for BSI 18.

