Rehabilitation Measures Database
  1. Rehabilitation Measures Database
  2. Spinal Cord Injury – Quality of Life Resilience

Spinal Cord Injury – Quality of Life Resilience

Last Updated

Purpose

Assess attributes of resilience in individuals with spinal cord injury.

Link to Instrument

Acronym SCI-QOL Resilience

Area of Assessment

Mental Health
Positive Affect
Quality of Life
Self-efficacy
Stress & Coping

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

Populations

Spinal Injuries

Key Descriptions

  • The SCI-QOL Resilience measure is an item response theory (IRT)-calibrated item bank with 21 items that is available for administration as a computer adaptive test (CAT; range 4-12 items) or short form (SF).

Number of Items

21

Short: 8

CAT: 4-12

Equipment Required

  • The Short Form requires only the printed form and a pencil. A CAT administration requires a desktop, laptop, or tablet computer with internet connection and login to AssessmentCenter.net.
  • Access to the short form, and administration of CATs through Assessment Center, is available through SCI-QOL@udel.edu.

Time to Administer

Less than 5 minutes

Required Training

Reading an Article/Manual

Age Ranges

Adults

18 - 64

years

Elderly Adults

65 +

years

Instrument Reviewers

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

ICF Domain

Body Function

Measurement Domain

Emotion

Considerations

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

Spinal Injuries

back to Populations

Standard Error of Measurement (SEM)

Depends on the mode of administration.

  • The mean SE of the full item bank was 0.21 (range = 0.15-0.49).
  • The mean SE of an 8-item fixed length CAT was 0.28 (range = 0.21-0.52).
  • The mean SE of a variable-length CAT (min = 4, max = 12 items) was 0.31 (range = 0.27-0.51).(Victorson et al., 2015)

Minimal Detectable Change (MDC)

Calculated from SEM

  • The MDC of the full item bank is 0.72.
  • The MDC of an 8-item fixed-length CAT is 0.65.
  • The MDC of a variable-length CAT is 0.63

Normative Data

Traumatic spinal cord injury. The normative data are calibrated on adults with traumatic spinal cord injury so the mean score (T = 50) indicates a score that is normal for an adult with a traumatic SCI. Deviations from the mean indicate deviations from what is normal for an individual with a traumatic SCI. For example, a respondent with a score of T=60 reported more attributes of resilience than +1 standard deviation (84%) of individuals with traumatic SCI.

Test/Retest Reliability

Traumatic SCI (Victorson et al., 2015; n=717, mean age = 43.0(15.3); time post injury = 7.1 years (10.0); 45% paraplegia, 55% tetraplegia)

  • Excellent test-retest reliability (ICC = .79)

Internal Consistency

Traumatic SCI (Victorson et al., 2015)

  • Excellent internal consistency (Chronbach’s alpha= .95)

Construct Validity

Traumatic SCI (in preparation)

  • The SCI-QOL Resilience item bank demonstrated convergent validity by correlating strongly with measures of:
    • Depression, Adequate convergent validity (PHQ-9 r = .-.57)
    • Satisfaction with life, Excellent convergent validity (Satisfaction with Life Scale r = .69)
    • Positive affect, Excellent convergent validity  (SCI-QOL Positive Affect r = .75).
  • The SCI-QOL Resilience item bank demonstrated Excellent discriminant validity by poorly correlating with measures of fine motor functioning (SCI-QOL Fine Motor r = .16)

Content Validity

Items were derived from focus groups and interviews with individuals with traumatic SCI (n=65) and clinicians who specialize in SCI (n=42).

Face Validity

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

Floor/Ceiling Effects

Minimal floor or ceiling effects. 0.14% of participants in the validation sample (Victorson et al., 2015) who completed the full item bank scored at floor, Excellent; 5.6% scored at ceiling, Adequate.

Bibliography

Victorson et al. (2015). Measuring resilience after spinal cord injury: Development and psychometric characteristics of the SCI-QOL Resilience item bank and short form. Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, 38(3), 366-376.

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