A Telephone-based Version of the Spinal Cord Injury-secondary Conditions Scale: a Reliability and Validity Study

Overview

Journal Spinal Cord

Specialty Neurology

Date 2015 Jul 22

PMID 26193815

Citations 11

Authors

M Arora

L A Harvey

L Lavrencic

J L Bowden

L Nier

J V Glinsky

A J Hayes

I D Cameron

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the inter-rater reliability and validity of using a telephone-based version of the spinal cord injury-secondary conditions scale (SCI-SCS).

Trial Design: A psychometric study was conducted.

Setting: The study was conducted in Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia.

Participants: Forty people with a complete or an incomplete spinal cord injury.

Methods: Inter-rater reliability was tested by comparing the telephone-based version of the SCI-SCS administered on two different days by two different telephone assessors. Validity was tested by comparing the telephone-based version of the SCI-SCS with the paper-based version of the SCI-SCS.

Results: The median (interquartile range) age and time since injury were 54 (48-63) years and 28 (14-35) years, respectively. The intraclass correlation coefficient (95% confidence interval) reflecting the agreement between the telephone-based version of the SCI-SCS administered on two different days by two different assessors was 0.96 (0.93-0.98). The corresponding value reflecting agreement between the telephone-based assessment and the paper-based assessment was 0.90 (0.83-0.95).

Conclusion: The telephone-based version of the SCI-SCS is a simple and a quick questionnaire to administer that has both inter-rater reliability and validity. It may be useful as a way to screen for secondary health conditions in low- and middle-income countries where it is not always feasible to provide routine face-to-face follow-ups and where literacy may be a problem.

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Tasiemski T, Kujawa J, Tederko P, Rubinelli S, Middleton J, Craig A Qual Life Res. 2023; 32(7):2069-2077.

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Christofi A, Tate D, Witter C, Castilho Alonso A, DAndrea Greve J Spinal Cord. 2023; 61(4):253-259.

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