Citation

Heinemann AW, Dijkers MP, Ni P, Tulsky DS, Jette A. Arch. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 2014; 95(7): 1289-1297.e5.

Affiliation

Health and Disability Research Institute, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.apmr.2014.01.031

PMID

24602551

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Spinal Cord Injury-Functional Index (SCI-FI) short forms (basic mobility, self-care, fine motor, ambulation, manual wheelchair, and power wheelchair) based on internal consistency; correlations between short forms banks, full item bank forms, and a 10-item computer adaptive test version; magnitude of ceiling and floor effects; and test information functions.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional cohort study. SETTING: Six rehabilitation hospitals in the United States. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals with traumatic spinal cord injury (N=855) recruited from 6 national Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems facilities. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: SCI-FI full item bank, 10-item computer adaptive test, and parallel short form scores.

RESULTS: The SCI-FI short forms (with separate versions for individuals with paraplegia and tetraplegia) demonstrate very good internal consistency, group-level reliability, excellent correlations between short forms and scores based on the total item bank, and minimal ceiling and floor effects (except ceiling effects for persons with paraplegia on self-care, fine motor, and power wheelchair ability and floor effects for persons with tetraplegia on self-care, fine motor, and manual wheelchair ability). The test information functions are acceptable across the range of scores where most persons in the sample performed.

CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians and researchers should consider the SCI-FI short forms when computer adaptive testing is not feasible.

Language: en