Brief Adjustment Scale–6 for Measurement-Based Care: Psychometric Properties, Measurement Invariance, and Clinical Utility

Abstract

The Brief Adjustment Scale–6 (BASE-6) was recently developed for measuring general psychological functioning within measurement-based care (MBC). The present study further evaluated psychometric properties, generalizability to race/ethnic populations, and clinical utility of the BASE-6. Three adult samples, Sample 1: online community participants ( n = 394); Sample 2: college students ( n = 249); Sample 3: outpatient clinic clients ( n = 80), were included. The results demonstrated a high level of internal consistency, good test–retest reliability, and convergent validity in all samples. The unidimensional structure of BASE-6 was confirmed and factorial invariance was established across groups. Finally, the BASE-6 captured change over time by demonstrating a large effect size of pre–post treatment changes and significant linear change in multilevel growth modeling. These results support the BASE-6 as a reliable and valid measure regardless of race/ethnicity and can sensitively detect clinical change over the course of the treatment. Thus, the BASE-6 appears to accurately monitor overall psychological adjustment.