Alexandre Luiz De Oliveira Serpa
Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Debora Marques De Miranda
Pediatrics Department, Neuroscience Lab, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Danielle De Souza Costa
Neuroscience Lab, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Jonas Jardim De Paula
Department of Psychology, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Mayra Isabel C. Pinheiro
Ministério da Saúde – SGETS, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Alexandre Paim Diaz
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
Antônio Geraldo Silva
Brazilian Psychiatry Association, Porto University, Brazil
Leandro Fernandes Malloy-Diniz
Universidade FUMEC, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Abstract:
Background: The Brief Symptoms Inventory is a valid and reliable instrument, and one of the most often used tools to assess mental health. Despite its translation to Brazilian Portuguese, there are no normative parameters for interpretation of its scores. Objective: This study provides a normative parameter for interpretation of the performance of a large sample of adults by using a version of BSI adapted to Brazilian Portuguese. Method: We assessed 2127 adults (57% female) from all of the Brazilian regions. Normative data and Internal consistencies and performance data were calculated for the general score index and the nine factors. Results: The associations between gender and BSI scores present a significant effect size. Therefore, we provided a percentile rank parameter for the different BSI subscores, considering the whole sample and gender division. Internal consistency varies from omega equal .87 – .98 and alpha equal .86-.98, which suggests that both GSI and the nine factors have excellent reliability. Discussion: Our results support the use of the Brazilian adaptation of BSI in different regions of the country to measure mental health and its specific factors. During the pandemic of COVID-19, the establishment of normative parameters is of utmost relevance. The stability of the parameters reported here should be addressed in future studies.
Keywords:psychological assessment, psychiatric assessment, normative data, psychometrics, mental health