Citation

Jette AM, Tulsky DS, Ni P, Kisala PA, Slavin MD, Dijkers MP, Heinemann AW, Tate D, Whiteneck GG, Charlifue S, Houlihan B, Williams S, Kirshblum S, Dyson-Hudson TA, Zanca JM, Fyffe D. Arch. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 2012; 93(10): 1733-1750.

Affiliation

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

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.apmr.2012.05.008

PMID

22609635

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:: To describe the calibration of the Spinal Cord Injury-Functional Index (SCI-FI) and report on the initial psychometric evaluation of the SCI-FI scales in each content domain. DESIGN:: Cross sectional survey followed by calibration data simulations. SETTING:: Inpatient and community settings PARTICIPANTS:: A sample of 855 participants with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) recruited from six Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (SCIMS) and stratified by diagnosis, severity and time since injury. INTERVENTION:: None MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:: SCI-FI instrument RESULTS:: Item Response Theory (IRT) analyses confirmed the unidimensionality of five SCI-FI scales: Basic Mobility (54 items), Fine Motor Function (36 items), Self-Care (90 items), Ambulation (39 items) and Wheelchair Mobility (56 items). All SCI-FI scales revealed strong psychometric properties. High correlations of scores on simulated computer adaptive tests (CATs) with the overall SCI-FI domain scores indicated excellent potential for CATs to accurately characterize functional profiles of adults with SCI. Overall, there was very little loss of measurement reliability or precision using CATs compared with the full item bank; however, there was some loss of reliability and precision at the lower and upper ranges of each scale, corresponding to regions where there were few questions in the item banks. CONCLUSIONS:: Initial evaluation revealed that the SCI-FI achieved considerable breadth of coverage in each content domain and demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties. The use of CATs to administer SCI-FI will minimize assessment burden while allowing for the comprehensive assessment of the functional abilities of adults with SCI.

Language: en