What does the Brief Resilience Scale measure?

The BRS measures resilience in its original sense: the ability to bounce back or recover from stress. It was published by Bruce Smith and colleagues in 2008 and deliberately does not measure the resources that help people cope, such as optimism or social support, only the recovery itself. Six items, half of them reverse-worded, give a mean score from 1 to 5.

What is a normal Brief Resilience Scale score?

The authors' bands are 1.00 to 2.99 low resilience, 3.00 to 4.30 normal, and 4.31 to 5.00 high. Averages in general and student samples sit around 3.5 to 3.9. People with chronic illness and chronic pain tend to score lower, which the scale's authors noted in the original validation.

Does a low resilience score mean I am not coping well enough?

No. The BRS asks how quickly you recover from stress, and a body that is already under the load of a post-viral illness recovers more slowly from everything, including stress. A low score describes that state; it is not a verdict on effort or character. The scale has been shown to improve when circumstances and support improve.

Tools

Brief Resilience Scale (BRS)

Six statements about bouncing back from stress, scored 1–5

The Brief Resilience Scale was published by Bruce Smith and colleagues in 2008 to measure one specific thing: how well you recover from stress. Most "resilience" questionnaires mix that up with the resources that help, such as optimism, purpose or a supportive family. The BRS leaves those out on purpose, so the score tells you about the bounce-back itself. It has six statements, half of them worded in reverse, and takes about a minute.

In a post-viral illness this is worth measuring because the illness changes it. The original validation included people with chronic pain and cardiac rehabilitation patients, and they scored lower than healthy groups. Slow recovery from stress is a feature of a dysregulated system, not a personal failing, and knowing your number gives you something to compare against as things change. It pairs well with the WHO-5 and the Satisfaction with Life Scale.

This is not a diagnostic tool. It measures self-reported recovery from stress. A low score describes your current capacity, which in a chronic illness reflects the illness as much as anything else. Source: Smith BW, Dalen J, Wiggins K, Tooley E, Christopher P, Bernard J. The Brief Resilience Scale: assessing the ability to bounce back. Int J Behav Med. 2008;15(3):194–200. Interpretation bands from Smith BW et al., in Resilience in Children, Adolescents, and Adults, Springer, 2013. The scale is free for non-commercial use and is reproduced here with attribution.

For each statement, choose the response that best describes how much you agree or disagree.

1. I tend to bounce back quickly after hard times.

2. I have a hard time making it through stressful events.

3. It does not take me long to recover from a stressful event.

4. It is hard for me to snap back when something bad happens.

5. I usually come through difficult times with little trouble.

6. I tend to take a long time to get over set-backs in my life.

Your BRS score

— out of 5

Understanding your score

Items 2, 4 and 6 are worded in reverse and are flipped before scoring, so that a high score always means faster recovery. The six answers are then averaged, giving a score from 1 to 5. The authors' bands are 1.00–2.99 low resilience, 3.00–4.30 normal, and 4.31–5.00 high. General and student samples average around 3.5 to 3.9.

Resilience on this scale is a state as much as a trait. It correlates with how much stress you are currently under, with sleep, and with physical symptoms, and it moves when those move. In the original study, people with chronic pain scored noticeably lower than healthy adults, and the authors treated that as a finding about illness rather than about the people. A body that is already struggling to regulate itself will take longer to settle after any stressor.

That makes the BRS a reasonable thing to track through a long illness. If you re-take it every few months, a rising score usually means the load has eased or your supports have improved. A falling score is a prompt to look at what has changed, and it can be a useful thing to show a clinician or therapist because it speaks to capacity rather than symptoms.

This is not a diagnosis. A low score is not a personality flaw and does not mean you are failing to cope. If stress is overwhelming you, talk to your GP about support. If you ever feel unable to keep yourself safe, seek urgent help (in the UK: call 111 option 2, or 999 in an emergency).

Symptom scores change slowly. A monthly retake is enough to see a trend.

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Brief Resilience Scale (BRS)

Your BRS score

Understanding your score

Your results over time

Shared results (not saved on this device)