The Perceived Benefit Scales: Measuring perceived positive life changes after negative events

If social work researchers are to accurately describe the psychosocial functioning of clients who experience negative events, they need to consider positive as well as negative outcomes. In this article, new measures of self-reported positive life changes after traumatic stressors are introduced. Factor analyses suggest that the Perceived Benefit Scales consist of eight subscales: lifestyle changes; material gain; and increases in self-efficacy, family closeness, community closeness, faith in people, compassion, and spirituality. Internal consistency and test—retest coefficients range from adequate to excellent. The scales correlate with indicators of severity and differ by type of negative event experienced.