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Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function - Second Edition (BRIEF-2)
Availability
Please visit this website for more information about the instrument: Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function - Second Edition.
Classification
Supplemental - Highly Recommended: Cerebral Palsy (CP) and *Mitochondrial Disease (Mito)
*Recommendations for use: Indicated for studies that are looking to assess executive function skills in daily life using a self-report and/or parent/informant report measure.
 
Supplemental: Epilepsy, Headache, Neuromuscular Disease (NMD), Sport-Related Concussion (SRC), and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
Short Description of Instrument
The BRIEF-2 is the first revision of the BRIEF, a measure of executive behaviors completed by a parent, teacher, or self. It yields eight theoretically and empirically derived subscales, each of which reflects a specific aspect of executive functioning (Inhibit, Shift, Emotional Control, Initiate, Working Memory, Plan/Organize, Organization of Materials and Monitor).
 
In addition, the BRIEF-2 includes three scales designed to assess the validity of responses (Inconsistency, Negativity, and Infrequency).
 
Age range: Parent/Teacher forms ages 5-18y; Self-report ages 11-18y.
Administration: Paper-and-pencil
Administration Time: Approximately 10 minutes
Accessibility: Self-report MACS I-III or CFCS I-III. Administered as paper-pencil questionnaire, but potentially an individual could indicate choice in interview, if necessary.
Comments/Special Instructions
Revisions included in the BRIEF-2 include:
 
• Information and research about new 12-item Parent, Teacher, and Self-Report screening forms and the core forms are included in one manual.
 
• Increased sensitivity to executive function: Items that distracted from sensitivity in key clinical groups (i.e., ADHD and autism spectrum disorder) have been eliminated.
 
• Updated with new normative data from all 50 states.
 
• Concise scales, which reduce the burden on the parent, teacher, or adolescent respondent.
 
• Parent, Teacher and Self-Report forms with increased parallel structure
 
• Behavioral Regulation, Emotional Regulation, and Cognitive Regulation Indices.
 
• A new infrequency scale to help identify unusual responding.
Scoring and Psychometric Properties
Scoring: Computerized or manual.
The subscale scores yield three broad composites (Behavioral Regulation Index, Emotion Regulation Index, and Cognitive Regulation Index) and an overall score, the Global Executive Composite (GEC). T-scores used for composite scores and subscale scores.
 
Psychometric Properties:
Norms: Normative sample included 1,400 parents of children aged 5-18, 1,400 teachers, and 803 Self-report respondents. Standardization samples were well-matched to the U.S. population for age, gender, parent education level, race/ethnicity, and geographic region.
Rationale/Justification
TBI-Specific:
"The three overall indexes (General Executive Composite, Metacognition Index, Behavioral Regulation Index) have been shown to be sensitive to TBI severity and outcome. The BRIEF was selected as a Supplemental measure to provide an evaluation of everyday executive function and because of its standardization on a large number of typically-developing children, thus providing age-based standard scores." (McCauley et al., 2012)
 
Cerebral Palsy-Specific:
The original version of the BRIEF was utilized in a number of studies of children with CP, including evidence of population-specific test-retest reliability, evidence that participants with CP had more executive behavior difficulties identified by the BRIEF, evidence that CP-related decrements in BRIEF scores were mediated by cognitive executive functions, and associations between BRIEF scores and levels of adaptive behavior. To date, no studies of participants with CP have been published that utilize the BRIEF-2.
 
Mitochondrial Disease-Specific:
Strengths: Given difficulties with executive functioning seen in some studies of individuals with mitochondrial disease, this brief self-report measure would be helpful to assess executive function skills experienced in daily life.
 
Weaknesses: Limited use of the BRIEF/BRIEF-2 in mitochondrial disease. One case study on record (Riquin, 2022).
 
Sport-Related Concussion-Specific:
Strengths: The BRIEF was developed as a measure of executive function and provides behavioral benchmarks for executive behaviors on three scales. It is a widely used scale in TBI. It was used in a study of children with concussion and demonstrated differences between children with concussion and children with other neurologic injury (Rieger et al., 2013). In addition, it contributes additional information to other self-report measures such as the CBCL. It includes parent or teacher reports for proxy report. Yields scaled scores, includes validity scales, and composite scores.
 
Weaknesses: Clinical normative sample is mixed and the brain injury sample includes all severity of TBI. In many studies of brain injury in which the BRIEF is used, the participants are of mixed injury severity.
References
Key References:
Gioia G, Isquith P, Guy S, Kenworthy L. Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function®, Second Edition (BRIEF®2) [Internet]. Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. 2015 [cited 2016Jun.21].  https://www.parinc.com/Products/Pkey/24.
  
Gioia G, Espy K, Isquith P. Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-- Preschool Version. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.; 2003.
 
Gioia G, Isquith P, Guy S, Kenworthy L. BRIEF: Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.; 2000.
 
Guy S, Isquith P, Gioia G. Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function--Self Report Version. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.; 2004.
 
Additional References:
Chapman LA, Wade SL, Walz NC, Taylor HG, Stancin T, Yeates KO. Clinically significant behavior problems during the initial 18 months following early childhood traumatic brain injury. Rehabil Psychol. 2010 Feb;55(1):48-57.
 
Chevignard MP, Servant V, Mariller A, Abada G, Pradat-Diehl P, Laurent-Vannier A. Assessment of executive functioning in children after TBI with a naturalistic open-ended task: a pilot study. Dev Neurorehabil. 2009 Apr;12(2):76-91.
 
Donders J, DeWit C. [Formula: see text]Parental ratings of daily behavior and child cognitive test performance after pediatric mild traumatic brain injury. Child Neuropsychol. 2017 Jul;23(5):554-70.
 
Mahone EM, Cirino PT, Cutting LE, Cerrone PM, Hagelthorn KM, Hiemenz JR, Singer HS, Denckla MB. Validity of the behavior rating inventory of executive function in children with ADHD and/or Tourette syndrome. Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2002 Oct;17(7):643-62.
 
McCauley SR, Wilde EA, Anderson VA, Bedell G, Beers SR, Campbell TF, Chapman SB, Ewing-Cobbs L, Gerring JP, Gioia GA, Levin HS, Michaud LJ, Prasad MR, Swaine BR, Turkstra LS, Wade SL, Yeates KO; Pediatric TBI Outcomes Workgroup. Recommendations for the use of common outcome measures in pediatric traumatic brain injury research. J Neurotrauma. 2012 Mar 1;29(4):678-705.
 
Rieger BP, Lewandowski LJ, Callahan JM, Spenceley L, Truckenmiller A, Gathje R, Miller LA. A prospective study of symptoms and neurocognitive outcomes in youth with concussion vs orthopaedic injuries. Brain Inj. 2013;27(2):169-78.
 
Riquin E, Barth M, Le Nerze T, Pasquini N, Prouteau C, Colin E, Amati Bonneau P, Procaccio V, Van Bogaert P, Duverger P, Bonneau D, Roy A. Neuropsychological Features of Children and Adolescents With Mitochondrial Disorders: A Descriptive Case Series. Front Psychiatry. 2022 Apr 7;13:864445.
 
CP-Specific References:
Bottcher L, Flachs EM, Uldall P. Attentional and executive impairments in children with spastic cerebral palsy. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2010 Feb;52(2):e42-7.
 
Muriel V, Garcia-Molina A, Aparicio-Lopez C, Ensenat A, Roig-Rovira T. Relacion entre el funcionamiento executives y la conducta en ninos con paralisis cerebral [Relationship between executive functioning and behaviour in children with cerebral palsy]. Rev Neurol. 2015 Oct 16;61(8):337-43.
 
Piovesana AM, Ross S, Whittingham K, Ware RS, Boyd RN. Stability of executive functioning measures in 8-17-year-old children with unilateral cerebral palsy. Clin Neuropsychol. 2015;29(1):133-49.
 
Whittingham K, Bodimeade HL, Lloyd O, Boyd RN. Everyday psychological functioning in children with unilateral cerebral palsy: does executive functioning play a role? Dev Med Child Neurol. 2014 Jun;56(6):572-9.
 
Document last updated March 2024