The Berlin Inventory of Gambling behavior – Screening (BIG-S): Validation using a clinical sample

BACKGROUND: Published diagnostic questionnaires for gambling disorder in German are either based on DSM-III criteria or focus on aspects other than life time prevalence. This study was designed to assess the usability of the DSM-IV criteria based Berlin Inventory of Gambling Behavior Screening tool in a clinical sample and adapt it to DSM-5 criteria. METHODS: In a sample of 432 patients presenting for behavioral addiction assessment at the University Medical Center Mainz, we checked the screening tool’s results against clinical diagnosis and compared a subsample of n=300 clinically diagnosed gambling disorder patients with a comparison group of n=132. RESULTS: The BIG-S produced a sensitivity of 99.7% and a specificity of 96.2%. The instrument’s unidimensionality and the diagnostic improvements of DSM-5 criteria were verified by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis as well as receiver operating characteristic analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The BIG-S is a reliable and valid screening tool for gambling disorder and demonstrated its concise and comprehensible operationalization of current DSM-5 criteria in a clinical setting. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-017-1349-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.