Generic BFRB Scale-8 GBS-8 Body-focused repetitive behaviours

Features Assessments Pricing Practitioner sign in Create account

Conduct psychological assessments remotely, get scores automatically, and maintain clinical records securely

What is GBS-8

The Generic BFRB Scale-8 (GBS-8) is a transdiagnostic scale to measure the severity of body-focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs). The GBS-8 is a brief, reliable and valid scale. Its total score may serve as a global primary outcome in trials on BFRBs, while its subscales can inform about specific aspects of BFRB.

GBS-8 Printable PDF

You can create a free account on PsyPack to access fillable PDFs, manuals and educational resources for the GBS-8

GBS-8 Scoring and Interpretation

The GBS-8 instruction was as follows: ‘For each item, pick the one answer which best describes the past week. If you have been having ups and downs, try to estimate an average for the past week. Please be sure to read all answers before making your choice’. In situations where the context is less clear, we advise researchers to add the following introduction: ‘The following scale asks about symptoms related to body-focused repetitive behaviour disorder (BFRB). Individuals with BFRB feel an urge to repeatedly engage in dysfunctional activities that involve their body, such as nail biting, skin picking, hair pulling, or lip-cheek biting, and repeatedly try to stop these activities’. Every item had to be scored on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 0 to 4.

A total score as well as symptom severity subscale (items 1–4) and an impairment subscale (items 5–8) are calculated. The total score ranges from 0 to 32.

PsyPack can automatically score the GBS-8 assessment and prepare corresponding tables and graphs.

Further, PsyPack automatically plots a graph to help you easily track progress over time.

Sample Report of GBS-8

Domain

Body-focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

What does GBS-8 measure

The purpose of the evaluation is to:

measure the severity of body-focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs).

Administration

Self-administered

Type of outcome tool

Clinical

Assessment modes

Questionnaire

Age and eligibility

18 years and above

Estimated time

Less than 5 minutes

Notes

Since the questionnaire relies on client self-report, all responses should be verified by the clinician, and a definitive diagnosis is made on clinical grounds taking into account how well the client understood the questionnaire, as well as other relevant information from the client.

A self-report scale like the Generic BFRB Scale-8 (GBS-8) is limited with respect to its objectivity.

A transdiagnostic scale is important given the high co-morbidity of body-focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs), its functional, symptomatic, and potential genetic similarities, as well as growing evidence for the usefulness of the BFRB construct as a superordinate diagnostic entity.

While the GBS-8 is a useful global outcome measure, scales such as the Repetitive Body Focused Behavior Scale (RBFBS) that provide indexes for different BFRBs can inform researchers to what extent a treatment is effective for the target BFRB only, or whether it also impacts other BFRBs (i.e. generalized positive effects versus ‘displacement’/adverse events on other BFRB subtypes).

The GBS total score may serve as a global primary outcome in trials on BFRBs, while its subscales can inform about specific aspects of BFRB.

Attribution and References

Moritz, S., Gallinat, C., Weidinger, S., Bruhns, A., Lion, D., Snorrason, I., . . . Penney, D. (2022). The Generic BFRB Scale-8 (GBS-8): A transdiagnostic scale to measure the severity of body-focused repetitive behaviours. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 50(6), 620-628. doi:10.1017/S1352465822000327

Archived link