The Chinese version of the Brown Assessment of Beliefs Scale: Psychometric properties and utility in obsessive compulsive disorder

• The results provided further evidences that the insight of OCD ranged in different levels.
• The Chinese version of BABS demonstrated adequate reliability and validity.
• The results suggested that the anxieties may be different between OCD with different insight levels.
• The sample size in the current research was relatively large.

The Brown Assessment of Beliefs Scale (BABS) is a semi-structured, clinical interview scale measuring insight/delusionality in problems such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The BABS is widely used, but few studies have examined its psychometric properties in OCD patients; and existing studies have small sample sizes. The present study aimed to establish a Chinese version of the BABS and assess its psychometric properties in a relatively large sample of 171 outpatients with OCD. Results showed that the internal consistency as well as the convergent and divergent validity of the Chinese version of the BABS was acceptable. The ICCs demonstrated good interrater reliability and test-retest reliability and a confirmatory factor analysis supported the original one-factor structure. Moreover, the results provided further evidence that OCD patients’ insight varies widely, and that the Chinese version of the BABS could be used to assess insight/delusionality in OCD.