Reliability and validity of the BASIS-24 Mental Health Survey for Whites, African-Americans, and Latinos

Abstract

Increasing racial and ethnic diversity calls for mental health assessment instruments that are appropriate, reliable, and valid for the wide range of cultures that comprise the current US population. However, most assessment instruments have not been tested on diverse samples. This study assessed psychometric properties and sensitivity to change of the revised Behavior and Symptom Identification Scale (BASIS-24) among the three largest race/ethnicity groups in the USA: Whites, African-Americans, and Latinos. BASIS-24 assessments were obtained for 2436 inpatients and 2975 outpatients treated at one of 27 mental health and/or substance abuse programs. Confirmatory factor analysis and several psychometric tests supported the factor structure, reliability, concurrent validity, and sensitivity of the instrument within each race/ethnicity group, although discriminant validity may be weaker for African-Americans and Latinos than for Whites. Further research is needed to test and validate assessment instruments with other race/ethnicity groups.