title: Reliability and validity of the borderline personality disorder severity index.
abstract: The psychometric properties and validity of the Borderline Personality Disorder Severity Index (BPDSI), a semistructured interview assessing the frequency and severity of manifestations of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) during a circumscribed period, were investigated in two studies. In study 1, patients with BPD (n = 15), with other personality disorders (PD; n = 18), and without Axis II disorders (but with Axis I disorders; n = 10) assessed with the SCID were interviewed with the BPDSI (1-yr. version). Patients also filled out a number of questionnaires. A second rater judged taped BPDSI interviews. The BPDSI appeared to yield highly reliable (ICC = .93) and internally consistent (Cronbach's alpha = .85) scores. The BPDSI strongly discriminated BPD patients from other patients, and was not related to other Axis II pathology. Concurrent and construct validity was excellent. In study 2, a version of the BPDSI suitable for use in treatment outcome research was investigated (3-month version) in a sample of 64 BPD patients, 23 Cluster C PD patients, and 20 nonpsychiatric controls. Again, reliability coefficients were excellent (ICC = 0.97; Cronbach's alpha = 0.93), and validity indices were good. Clinical norms were also derived. In a sample of 28 BPD patients, the instrument detected improvement during 6 months of psychotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical, Clinical and Experimental Psychology, Maastricht University, The Netherlands. Arnoud.Arntz@MP.Unimaas.nl
authors.forename: Arnoud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arntz
authors.forename: Marije
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van den Hoorn
authors.forename: Jurgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cornelis
authors.forename: Roel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Verheul
authors.forename: Wies M C
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: van den Bosch
authors.forename: Arthur J H T
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: de Bie
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires