Objective: The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) is a self-report measure of psychological symptoms in clinical and non-clinical populations. However, norms for BSI are lacking for patients with chronic illness, such as Crohn's disease (CD). This study aimed to provide BSI clinical norms using a cohort of CD patients.
Design: Adult Israeli CD patients (n = 430) completed questionnaires regarding clinical, demographic and psychological aspects of disease, including BSI. Their BSI data were compared with published norms from adult Israeli population and British psychiatric outpatients.
Results: CD patients in active disease state had higher levels of mental health symptoms than those in remission. Interestingly, levels of symptomatology did not differ with respect to disease duration. No significant sex differences in BSI dimensions were found, with the exception of somatization. Being younger than 60 years and having lower economic status were associated with more severe psychological symptoms. Psychological symptom levels in CD patients were high in comparison to the Israeli general population, but low compared to British psychiatric outpatients.
Conclusion: Results confirm the link between CD and elevated psychological symptoms. The findings highlight the need to use appropriate BSI norms when assessing clinically significant levels of psychological symptoms in non-psychiatric patients with chronic illness.
Keywords: Brief Symptom Inventory; Crohn’s disease; normative study; psychological distress.