BAST® Diagnostics

The BAST® Diagnostics comprise a movement diagnostic test, rating scales for the assessment of body movement, and a questionnaire for the self-assessment of one's movement behaviour.

Movement Diagnostic Test
The BAST® Movement Diagnostic Test is a 10-minute movement test with a broad range of performance tasks, e.g. jumping, stamping, swinging (part I), and a thematically balanced set of semi-structured improvisation tasks, e.g. expressing 'fire' in body movement, expressing 'water' in body movement (part II). In part I, the individual's ability to execute specific movement qualities, e.g. to modulate movement flow, is tested by specific movement tasks, e.g. swinging. The requested movement qualities are theoretically associated with specific mental functions. In part II, the individual's improvisation gives an impression of her/his spontaneously preferred movement qualities and her/his movement repertoire.

Rating Scales for Body Movement
The BAST® Rating Scales consist of three types of scales:

  1. Scales for the assessment of part I of the BAST® movement test: these scales are specifically tailored to assess the individual's movement behaviour in the performance tasks. For each task, specific movement parameters are examined, e.g. in the task swinging the movement flow and head integration. The parameters are theoretically associated with specific mental functions.
  2. Scales for the assessment of part II of the BAST® movement test: these scales comprise a broad spectrum of movement parameters to assess the individual's movement behaviour during the improvisation tasks. Most of the parameters are from the Laban Movement Analysis (Laban, 1958), which is the basis for many movement analysis systems applied in the context of psychological assessment.
  3. Scales for the assessment of free body movement in space, e.g. during sports, dance, everyday life locomotion and action: these scales are also based on the Laban Movement Analysis.

BAST® Self-Assessment Questionnaire for Body Movement
The self-assessment questionnaire is administered after the BAST® movement test. It contains questions that ask the individual to assess his/her movement behaviour during the test. The questions are set up in analogy to the BAST® Rating Scales, i.e., the same movement parameters that are evaluated with the rating scales are submitted to self-assessment.