Spinal Cord Injury – Quality of Life Satisfaction with Social Roles and Activities

Last Updated

December 07, 2015

Purpose

To assess the satisfaction of individuals with spinal cord injury with their social roles and activities.

Link to Instrument

Instrument Details

Acronym SCI-QOL Satisfaction with SRA

Area of Assessment

Life Participation
Social Relationships
Quality of Life

Assessment Type

Patient Reported Outcomes

Administration Mode

Computer

Cost

Free

Cost Description

Paper copies of short forms are available. PDFs can be requested through emails to sci-qol@udel.edu and tbi-qol@udel.edu

Electronic versions can be found in the NIH Toolbox or the PROMIS app. Either app is $500/yr, and covers up to 10 iPads on a single license. The SCI-QOL and TBI-QOL CATs can be administered directly through these apps. It is important to note that using the app requires you to be physically with the participant or read the questions aloud by interview over the phone - there is no way to send a link to have someone complete the measures at home.

Free electronic versions are available. If your institution has REDCap, the CATs and short forms can be accessed through the REDCap instrument library by searching for the specific measure you want and adding them to your REDCap project. For non-REDCap alternatives, the SCI-QOL and TBI-QOL short forms can be imported into an alternative electronic administration platform such as Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, etc. Email sci-qol@udel.edu or tbi-qol@udel.edu to request PDF versions.

Diagnosis/Conditions

Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal Injuries

The SCI-QOL Satisfaction with SRA measure is an item response theory (IRT)-calibrated item bank with 35 items that is available for administration as a computer adaptive test (CAT; range 4-12 items) or short form (SF). 14 items are from PROMIS and Neuro-QOL, 20 are from Neuro-QOL only, and 1 is unique to SCI-QOL.

Number of Items

Short: 10

CAT: 4-12

The Short Form requires only the printed form and a pencil. A CAT administration requires a desktop, laptop, or tablet computer with internet connection
Please see 'Cost Description' for more information on how to access this measure

Less than 5 minutes

Required Training

Reading an Article/Manual

Adults

18 - 64

years

Elderly Adults

65 +

years

Instrument Reviewers

Review completed by Pamela Kisala, M.A. and Matthew Cohen, Ph.D.

ICF Domain

Participation

Measurement Domain

General Health

Considerations

Do you see an error or have a suggestion for this instrument summary? Please e-mail us!

Standard Error of Measurement (SEM)

Depends on the mode of administration.

Mean SEM of full item bank = 0.09 (range = 0.06 – 0.53).
Mean SEM of 10-item short form = 0.16 (range = 0.10 – 0.57).
Mean SEM of variable-length CAT (min = 4, max = 12 items) = 0.20 (range = 0.15 – 0.54).

Minimal Detectable Change (MDC)

(Calculated from SEM).

MDC of the full item bank = 0.25.
MDC of an 8-item fixed-length CAT = 0.44.
MDC of a variable-length CAT = 0.55

Normative Data

Mixed healthy/neurological population (Gershon et al., 2012)

Scores on the SCI-QOL Ability to Participate in SRA reference the Neuro-QOL sample, which comprise a mixed sample of neurological healthy adults and adults with neurological illnesses (stroke, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).

Test/Retest Reliability

Traumatic SCI (Heinemann et al., 2015; n=641, mean age = 42.9(15.3); time post injury = 7.1 years (9.8); 44% paraplegia, 55% tetraplegia)

Excellent test-retest reliability (ICC = .77)

Criterion Validity (Predictive/Concurrent)

Traumatic SCI (data in preparation)

Excellent concurrent validity predicting the Satisfaction with Life Scales; r = .65) and Adequate concurrent validity predicting the Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique (CHART; r = .36).

Construct Validity

Traumatic SCI (manuscript in preparation)

The SCI-QOL Satisfaction with SRA item bank demonstrated good validity by correlating strongly with measures of self-esteem (Excellent: SCI-QOL Self-Esteem r = .67), depression (Excellent: PHQ-9 r = -.60), psychological trauma (Adequate: SCI-QOL Psychological Trauma r = .51), and independence (Excellent: SCI-QOL Independence = .70).

Content Validity

Content was derived from focus groups and cognitive interviews with individuals with traumatic SCI (n=65) and clinicians who specialize in SCI (n=42), as well as focus groups with individuals with other neurological illnesses (n=64) and their caregivers (n=19).

Face Validity

Not formally established, but content was generated from individuals with SCI and expert clinicians, so face validity is strong.

Floor/Ceiling Effects

Excellent: minimal floor or ceiling effects (Heinemann et al., 2015). With a 10-item short form, 5.2% of respondents were at ceiling and 0.3% were at floor.

Bibliography

Gershon et al. (2012). Neuro-QOL: quality of life item banks for adults with neurological disorders: item development and calibrations based upon clinical and general population testing. Quality of Life Research, 21(3), 476-486.

Heinemann et al. (2015). Development and psychometric characteristics of the SCI-QOL Ability to Participate and Satisfaction with Social Roles and Activities item banks and short forms. Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, 38(3), 397-408.