A pilot study to modify the SF-36V physical functioning scale for use with veterans with spinal cord injury.
OBJECTIVE
To develop a valid and reliable spinal cord injury (SCI) specific physical functioning (PF) scale for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) version of the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey.


METHODS
A mixed qualitative and quantitative research design was used. In phase 1, a pool of SCI-specific PF items was generated based on focus groups with patients and health care providers. In phase 2, the psychometric properties of the SCI-specific PF scale were established.


METHODS
A VHA SCI center.


METHODS
The sample consisted of valid responses from 359 veterans with traumatic SCI who were seen at a VHA SCI center during the prior year (2002).


METHODS
Not applicable.


METHODS
Physical functioning in people with SCI.


RESULTS
Exploratory factor analysis was conducted separately on respondents with lower neurologic-level injuries (paraplegia, 53% [n=190]) and those with higher neurologic-level injuries (tetraplegia, 45% [n=163]) and identified 9 items loading on 1 factor in both groups. These 9 items were included in separate item response theory (IRT) model analyses for each subgroup. Based on the IRT analysis, 1 item was eliminated, resulting in an 8-item, SCI-specific PF scale.


CONCLUSIONS
Although several of the items in the SCI-specific PF scale showed floor effects, particularly in people with tetraplegia, we found excellent reliability and strong support of convergent and divergent validity of the scale.
Luther
Stephen L
SL
VISN 8 Patient Safety Research Center, James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, Tampa, FL 33612, USA. steve.luther@med.va.gocv
Kromrey
Jeffrey
J
Powell-Cope
Gail
G
Rosenberg
Deborah
D
Nelson
Audrey
A
Ahmed
Shahbaz
S
Quigley
Patricia
P
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014728:Veterans