Perceptions of communication abilities for persons with traumatic brain injury: validity of the La Trobe Communication Questionnaire.
OBJECTIVE
To further evaluate the construct validity of the La Trobe Communication Questionnaire (LCQ) and to investigate the extent to which self-ratings of adults with traumatic brain injury compared to ratings made by close others and self-ratings made by non-injured matched controls.


METHODS
Prospective cohort study.


METHODS
Two hundred and seventy-six adults with TBI (121 of which are >1-year post-injury and previously enrolled in TBI Model Systems and 155 of which were consecutively admitted to a Level 1 trauma centre and were at least 6-months post-injury) completed the La Trobe Communication Questionnaire. In addition, for the TBI Model systems sample, 88 friends/family members and 80 non-injured matched controls participated.


RESULTS
Principle components analysis with varimax rotation yielded four factors: Initiation/Conversational Flow, Disinhibition/Impulsivity, Conversational Effectiveness and Partner Sensitivity, which were found to have adequate internal consistency. Adequate discriminative validity was obtained in comparing adults with TBI to non-injured matched controls, while no significant differences were found between self-ratings of communication abilities by adults with TBI and those made by close others.


CONCLUSIONS
Additional support for the LCQ as a useful measure of perceived social communication abilities was obtained. Confirmatory factor analysis with a larger sample of adults with TBI will be a useful step in further development of this tool.
Struchen
Margaret A
MA
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA. struchen@bcm.edu
Pappadis
Monique R
MR
Mazzei
Diana K
DK
Clark
Allison N
AN
Davis
Lynne C
LC
Sander
Angelle M
AM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000523:psychology*; D003142:Communication; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012647:Self-Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult