Development of the mini-BCIBS: A brief bi-directional measure of posttraumatic growth

Abstract

We describe the development of a brief version of the Bi-Directional Changes in Being Scale (BCIBS; Hiskey, Troop, & Joseph, 2006), a measure of phenomenological change following stressful and traumatic life events. The psychometric properties of the mini-BCIBS were explored using data drawn from a sample of female students, survivors of a discotheque fire, and a large-scale Internet survey. Results suggest the new measure retains the breadth of experiences captured by its predecessor and is psychometrically equivalent. The new tool awaits further development among clinical samples and may help researchers explore the long-term trajectory of posttraumatic growth phenomena.