Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function

The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), developed by Gerard Gioia, Ph.D., Peter Isquith, Ph.D., Steven Guy, Ph.D., and Lauren Kenworthy, Ph.D., is an assessment of executive function behaviors at home and at school for children and adolescents ages 5–18. The 86-item questionnaire has separate forms for parents and teachers, and typically takes 10–15 minutes to administer and 15–20 minutes to score. Other versions of the BRIEF also exist for preschool children aged 2–5 (BRIEF-P), self-reports of adolescents aged 11–18 (BRIEF-SR), and self/informant-reports of adults aged 18–90 (BRIEF-A).

The BRIEF was developed in 2000 to address limitations of available assessments in examining real-world expressions of behaviors related to executive function; the scale was normed on data from 1419 parents (815 girls and 604 boys) and 720 teachers (403 girls and 317 boys) from a representative distribution of socioeconomic statuses. By design, the BRIEF is intended to provide a standardized method of asking multiple raters about executive functions in daily life in a manner that is not specific to any particular disorder. Because it is not disorder-specific, the BRIEF may be used to assess executive function behaviors in children and adolescents experiencing a wide range of difficulties, such as those related to learning, attention, brain injuries, developmental disorders, and various psychiatric conditions and medical issues.

As of 2013, the BRIEF had been translated into 40 different languages or dialects across the various versions of the questionnaire.

Each form of the BRIEF parent- and teacher- rating form contains 86 items in eight non-overlapping clinical scales and two validity scales. These theoretically and statistically derived scales form two indexes: a) Behavioral Regulation (three scales) and b) Metacognition (five scales), as well as a Global Executive Composite score which takes into account all of the clinical scales and represents the child's overall executive function. There are also two validity scales to measure Negativity and Inconsistency of responses. Scores on the Negativity scale measures the extent to which the respondent answered selected items in an unusually negative manner whereas scores on the Inconsistency scale indicate the extent to which the respondent answered similar items in an inconsistent manner.

The BRIEF is very simple to administer and only requires a copy of the form and a pencil. The parent form is filled out by a parent (preferably by both parents). The only important criterion is they need to have had recent contact with the child over the past six months. Similarly, the teacher form can be filled out by any adult (teacher or aide) who has had extended contact with the child in a school setting during the past month. Multiple ratings across classrooms are strongly recommended, as they are useful for comparison purposes.

...
Wikipedia