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The Brief Symptom Inventory: A validity study in two independent Scottish samples
Author(s) -
Schwannauer Matthias,
Chetwynd Phil
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
clinical psychology and psychotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.315
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1099-0879
pISSN - 1063-3995
DOI - 10.1002/cpp.539
Subject(s) - psychology , exploratory factor analysis , confirmatory factor analysis , anxiety , clinical psychology , checklist , distress , depression (economics) , psychometrics , psychiatry , structural equation modeling , statistics , mathematics , economics , cognitive psychology , macroeconomics
This study examines the validity and factor structure of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) in two Scottish samples, using both confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The 53‐item checklist was administered to 161 primary care attenders and 459 clinical psychology patients. EFA revealed that only six factors can be found, as opposed to the nine factors suggested by the original authors. Approximately 40% of the variance is accounted for by one major factor, ‘Depression’. Further CFA of the factor structure demonstrated however, that the discriminating information provided by the dimensional subscales cannot be sufficiently explained by one single factor of general psychological distress. It is suggested that the BSI demonstrates some more limited differentiating qualities in separating essential dimensions in a three‐factor model of depression, anxiety and general psychological distress. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.