A validation study was directed toward an evaluation of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) in a Spanish-language version in Colombia. The BPRS is important because it is one of the most widely used scales in clinical and research settings in mental health.The BPRS was administered to 149 psychiatric impatients and the scores evaluated for factorial structure and internal consistency. Test-retest and inter-rater reliability were assessed in a sub-sample of 30 patients. Concurrent validity was analyzed by comparing scores on BPRS with scores on GAF scale. Sensitivity to change was evaluated by comparing scores in two clinically different settings.Principal component factor analysis indicated a structure with three domains: schizophreniform, bipolarity and depression. The instrument showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.79). Coefficients corresponding to inter-rater and test-retest reliability were 0.94 and 0.82 respectively. Correlation between BPRS and GAF was 0.7 (Spearman). Within-subjects ANOVA showed the scale to be an instrument good sensitivity for detecting changes in of clinical characteristics.We concluded that the Spanish language version evaluated in Colombia to be a valid clinical-report instrument with adequate psychometric properties.