[Short version of the borderline symptom list (BSL-23): development and psychometric evaluation]

The Borderline Symptom List (BSL-95) has initially been developed as a self-rating instrument for specific assessment of borderline-typical symptoms. In order to reduce patient burden and assessment time we developed a short-version of the BSL. Twenty-three of the original 95 BSL-items were included into the short-version (BSL-23). The evaluation was based on five different samples with borderline patients (n=694). The internal consistency of the BSL-23 was high: Cronbach's alpha: 0.94-0.97. The remaining results regarding test-retest-reliability, validity, ability to discriminate between patient groups and sensitivity for change according to therapy were very satisfactory throughout. The results indicate that the BSL-23 is an efficient and convenient self-rating instrument that displays very good psychometric properties comparable to those of the full version of the BSL.