Brief Resilience Scale - BRS

Technical Manual

Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Created: May 15, 2017

Last Modified: December 02, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This script implements a computerized version of the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) as described by: Smith et al (2008).

References

Smith, B. W., Dalen, J., Wiggins, K., Tooley, E., Christopher, P., & Bernard, J. (2008). The brief resilience scale: assessing the ability to bounce back. International journal of behavioral medicine, 15(3), 194-200.

Duration

0.5 minutes

Description

6 5-point Likert questions, self-report

Instructions

default instructions adapted from Smith et al (2008, p.195);
can be edited under section Editable Parameters

Summary Data

File Name: briefresiliencescale_summary.iqdat' (Inquisit Lab: one data file per participant)

Data Fields

NameDescription
inquisit.version Inquisit version number
computer.platform Device platform: win | mac |ios | android
computer.touch 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities
computer.hasKeyboard 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected
startDate Date the session was run
startTime Time the session was run
subjectId Participant ID
groupId Group number
sessionId Session number
elapsedTime Session duration in ms
completed 0 = Test was not completed
1 = Test was completed
brsScore The average score (sum of all responses/6)
Range: 1-5 => the higher the score, the higher the self-reported resilience

Raw Data

File Name: briefresiliencescale.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
date Date the session was run
time Time the session was run
subject Participant ID
group Group number
session Session number
build Inquisit version number
q*_response Response given (in assigned values)
Scale: 1 (strongly disagree) - 5 (strongly agree)
R = automatically reversed scored questions
q*_latency How much time (in ms) the participant spent on the surveyPage with this particular
question (the last time this particular surveyPage was visited)

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

NameDescriptionDefault
pageInstructions The instructions displayed on the surveyPage
(default instructions adapted from Smith et al, 2008, p.195)