The development of the Brain Injury Screening Index (BISI): A self-report measure

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties and screening accuracy of the Brain Injury Screening Index (BISI), a self-report questionnaire designed to identify a history of acquired brain injury. The study was conducted in a closed male prison in the UK. The purposive sample comprised 55 male prisoners who arrived at the establishment during the study. A repeated measures design was used, where the Brain Injury Screening Index (BISI) was administered on three occasions. Inter-rater reliability was poor to moderate, but test retest reliability was moderate to good. Medical records were not available for all participants, but the limited number obtained resulted in a sensitivity of .38 to .71 and specificity of .47 to .70 across the three screening administrations of the BISI. The limitations of the present findings are discussed in the context of the use of the tool in custodial environments. It is argued that these results suggest that, when used as recommended, the BISI has acceptable reliability and validity as an initial screen for identifying individuals who should receive support and a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment, and it merits further investigation and development.

KEYWORDS:

• Head injury
• Concussion
• Triage
• Offenders

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank HMP Leeds for supporting this project, the health care team for their role in recruitment and first assessment, and to all those who agreed to take part in the study. We also thank The Disabilities Trust Linkworker service team at Leeds for accommodating the volume of referrals arising from the project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors of this report are or have been employed by The Disabilities Trust Foundation, a division of The Disabilities Trust, a not-for-profit organisation that developed and distributes the Brain Injury Screening Index to institutions and professionals free of charge.