The Psychometric Properties of the Brief Symptom Inventory in Men under Criminal Justice Involvement: Implications for Forensic Social Workers in Practice Settings

The purpose of this study was to assess the factor structure and psychometric properties of the original and a revised modification of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) in 259 black and Latino males, aged thirty-five to sixty-seven, who had been released from a New York state prison or a New York City jail. The data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis, principal axis factoring and confirmatory factor analysis. Standardised factor loadings were evaluated at 0.05, model fit was evaluated using the chi-square statistic, and fit indices were examined. Items whose communalities fell below 0.30 were eliminated from the procedure. The findings did not yield the same number of factors as the original BSI, but the revised BSI model fitted the current data better. This modified factor structure reduced the BSI to the nineteen most appropriate items to assess five key common psychiatric symptoms affecting men under community supervision. The results of the current factor structure suggest that the psychiatric disorders experienced by men under community supervision may differ from the populations studied by the original BSI factor structure. Forensic social work ought to examine the psychometric properties of standardised measures for different populations such that appropriate instruments may be specifically targeted and maximised.