The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) as an outcome measure for adult psychiatric inpatients

In this study the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI; Derogatis & Spencer, 1982) was administered to 89 males and 128 females at admission and discharge from a private psychiatric hospital. For mean scores, statistically significant decreases were observed on all BSI scales and global indices. Effect sizes ranged from high medium to large. Also, when clinical significance indices were calculated with regard to changes made by individual patients, we found that approximately 50% of all inpatients evidenced a decrease on the Global Severity Index (GSI), which meets the dual criteria of significant change and posttreatment functioning in the normal range. Compared with inpatient norms (Derogatis & Spencer, 1982), our sample generally scored higher at admission and lower at discharge.