6-item measure of the ability to bounce back or recover from stress. ≈ 1 min to complete. Free with attribution.
BRS (Brief Resilience Scale) is a validated clinical instrument used to assess 6-item measure of the ability to bounce back or recover from stress.. It is most often used for 6-item measure of the ability to bounce back or recover from stress.. The instrument contains 6 items. Typical administration time is ≈ 1 min.
Source / attribution: Free to use with citation
6-item measure of the ability to bounce back or recover from stress. BRS is part of standard practice in this setting because it provides a structured, replicable assessment that can be tracked over time and compared across patients or visits.
Like all screening or assessment instruments, BRS is a structured aid — not a diagnostic test in isolation. Results should be interpreted alongside history, examination, and clinical context. Where a score crosses an actionable threshold, the next step is typically a more detailed clinical evaluation rather than a definitive diagnosis.
Answer all 6 items below to see your BRS score and interpretation.
Each item is scored on a 5-point scale (1–5). Your score updates live as you answer.
All scoring runs in your browser. No data is sent anywhere — close the tab and the answers are gone.
Sum all 6 items scored 1-5. Total range 6-30. Higher scores = greater resilience.
Scoring notes: Sum all 6 items scored 1-5. Total range 6-30. Higher scores = greater resilience.
The cutoffs below are drawn from the published validation literature. Always interpret in clinical context.
| Score range | Band | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| 6–18 | Low resilience | Resilience training |
| 19–23 | Normal resilience | Maintain |
| 24–30 | High resilience | Maintain |
This is an illustrative walkthrough, not a real patient. Follow the same four steps with your own answers — or use the live calculator at the top of this page.
Read each question and choose the response that best fits. Each response has a number next to it — that number is the item's score. The example below uses illustrative answers.
| # | Item | Example response | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I tend to bounce back quickly after hard times | Neutral | 3 |
| 2 | I have a hard time making it through stressful events | Disagree | 4 |
| 3 | It does not take me long to recover from a stressful event | Neutral | 3 |
| 4 | It is hard for me to snap back when something bad happens | Disagree | 4 |
| 5 | I usually come through difficult times with little trouble | Neutral | 3 |
| 6 | I tend to take a long time to get over setbacks in my life | Disagree | 4 |
Add up all the item scores you noted in Step 1.
3 + 4 + 3 + 4 + 3 + 4 = 21
Find the row in the interpretation table whose range contains your total:
Total = 21 falls between 19 and 23 → Normal resilience
Normal resilience. Maintain
A score is one input alongside history and examination. BRS supports clinical judgment — it does not replace it.
Psychometric figures are drawn from the validation literature and may vary across clinical populations and translations.
If BRS doesn't fit your context, related instruments in coping include:
| Scale | Measures | Items | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brief-COPE | 28-item measure of effective and ineffective coping strategies during stressful events. | — | ≈ 5 min |
| CD-RISC | 25-item measure of resilience to stress with five factor structure. | 25 | ≈ 5 min |
| CD-RISC-10 | 10-item brief version of CD-RISC for screening resilience. | 10 | ≈ 2 min |
| PHQ-9 | Severity of depression | 9 | ≈ 3 minutes |
| GAD-7 | Severity of generalized anxiety | 7 | ≈ 2 minutes |
| AUDIT | 10-item WHO screening tool for hazardous alcohol consumption and dependence. | 10 | ≈ 3 min |
| CHA2DS2-VASc | Annual stroke risk in non-valvular atrial fibrillation | 8 | — |
| Glasgow Coma Scale | Level of consciousness after head injury | 3 | — |
BRS (Brief Resilience Scale) is a validated instrument that assesses the ability to bounce back or recover from stress. It is designed for clinicians, medical students, evidence-synthesis researchers. It takes about 1 min to complete, and the 6 items are summed to produce a total score.
BRS typically takes about 1 min to administer. The exact duration varies a little depending on whether it is self-administered or completed with a clinician. Its brief format is part of what makes it practical for routine clinical use and for repeat administration when tracking change over time.
BRS contains 6 items. Item scores are summed to produce the total. Scores run from 6 to 30, grouped into 3 interpretation bands from ‘Low resilience’ up to ‘High resilience’.
On the BRS (total score 6–30), scores of 24–30 fall in the ‘High resilience’ band — interpreted as: Maintain. The full ladder is: 6–18 — Low resilience: Resilience training.; 19–23 — Normal resilience: Maintain.; 24–30 — High resilience: Maintain. A higher score reflects a more severe presentation, and crossing a cutoff is a prompt to step up assessment or care — but these bands are screening thresholds, not diagnoses.
Scores of 6–18 fall in the ‘Low resilience’ band: Resilience training. A low score is reassuring but does not by itself rule out the underlying condition — if symptoms or clinical suspicion persist, reassess over time or use a complementary evaluation rather than relying on the number alone.
BRS has reported Cronbach's α of 0.93 in validation samples and test–retest reliability of 0.84. Unidimensional resilience measure; predicts well-being outcomes. In practical terms, a Cronbach’s α around 0.93 indicates excellent internal consistency (the items hang together well), and a test–retest reliability of 0.84 means scores are strongly stable when the scale is repeated without real clinical change.
BRS is free to use with attribution — clinical, educational, and research use is permitted provided the original source is credited. If you publish results or reproduce the scale, include the citation to the source paper.
Smith, B. W., Dalen, J., Wiggins, K., Tooley, E., Christopher, P., & Bernard, J. (2008). The Brief Resilience Scale. Assessment, 15(2), 194-200. This is the original publication for the BRS — the reference to cite when reporting results.
No. BRS is a structured assessment aid, not a diagnostic test. Its proper role is clinical assessment of the ability to bounce back or recover from stress — it standardizes assessment and flags who needs closer evaluation, but the result must be weighed alongside history, examination, and clinical context. When a score conflicts with your clinical impression, clinical judgment takes precedence; treatment decisions should never rest on a screening score alone.
BRS is supported by the following peer-reviewed sources: