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Meta-analysis of the factor structure of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18) using an aggregated co-occurrence matrix approach

Priyalatha Govindasamy (Department of Psychology and Counseling, Faculty of Human Development, Sultan Idris Education University, Tanjung Malim, Malaysia)
Kathy E. Green (Department of Research Methods and Information Science, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA)
Antonio Olmos (Aurora Research Institute, Denver, Colorado, USA)

Mental Health Review Journal

ISSN: 1361-9322

Article publication date: 23 October 2020

Issue publication date: 25 November 2020

130

Abstract

Purpose

The Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18) is a tool used to measure clinically relevant psychological symptoms to support clinical decision-making at intake and during the course of treatment in various settings. The BSI-18 has frequently been evaluated for construct validity via analysis of its structure. However, these studies showed mixed results of the factor solutions and no consensus on the dimensionality. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to synthesize the empirical findings about the factor structure to reach an overall conclusion about the factor structure of the BSI-18.

Design/methodology/approach

A meta-analysis of factor analysis results using an aggregated co-occurrence matrix approach was conducted to synthesize the factor structure. The item factor loading information from seven published studies is gathered, combined and summarized to conclude the factor structure of the instrument. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) was used to quantify the similarity between the underlying factor structures of BSI-18 from different empirical articles.

Findings

The perceptual map from MDS-found items was clustered into three distinctive factors matching the original intent. The findings highlight the consistency of the BSI-18’s factor structure. However, the findings should be used with caution owing to the small sample size and conclusions made from visual representation.

Originality/value

This original study contributes to research in the provision of empirically tested measures that take a focus on factor analysis and the use of meta-analysis technique to account for an understanding of the factor structure.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the University Research Grant [Code: 2017-0142-106-01] from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Malaysia. The authors would like to extend their gratitude to RMIC, UPSI that helped to fund the research.

Citation

Govindasamy, P., Green, K.E. and Olmos, A. (2020), "Meta-analysis of the factor structure of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18) using an aggregated co-occurrence matrix approach", Mental Health Review Journal, Vol. 25 No. 4, pp. 367-378. https://doi.org/10.1108/MHRJ-05-2020-0028

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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