title: A preliminary psychometric evaluation of the interpersonal communication competence scale for aquired brain injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the psychometric properties of two adapted versions of the interpersonal communication competence scale (ICCS) that were applied to people with acquired brain injury (ABI). Construct validity was tested for both new scales and a factor extraction was performed on the proxy-rating version aiming to establish if it revealed meaningful constructs.
  
  
  METHODS
  ICCS was translated from English to Danish language, pilot tested and slightly modified for use as a self-rating scale with people with ABI. A relative/staff version of the scale was also constructed for testing. Participants with medium-to-severe ABI self-rated their interpersonal communication skills using the modified ICCS. Cronbach Alpha test was performed on both scales followed by a correlation analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventeen participants with medium-to-severe ABI and staff and relatives (n = 37) were involved in testing the ICCS-staff/relative rating and ICCS-self-rating. The ICCS-Staff/Relative showed an overall Cronbach alpha of α = 0.774 and the ICCS-Self-rating α = 0.675. A factor extraction of the ICCS-Staff/Relative revealed six meaningful sub-groups that corresponded well with the original ICCS. There was a low but significant correlation between the ratings performed by the two staff members most familiar with the participants (r = 0.280, p = 0.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The ICCS-Staff/Relative revealed a good overall internal consistency, whereas the ICCS-Self-rating revealed acceptable internal consistency. The factor analysis of the proxy-rating revealed six meaningful sub-groups of interpersonal communication competencies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University , Denmark and.
authors.forename: Søren V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Hald
authors.forename: Felicity A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: Hanne Mette O
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Ridder
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D016743:Mental Competency; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013068:Speech Production Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Interpersonal communication; staff/relatives evaluation.