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Arora M.1, Harvey L.A.1, Lavrencic L.2, Bowden J.1, Nier L.2, Glinsky J.1, Hayes A.3, Cameron I.1
1The University of Sydney, Sydney Medical School, Sydney, Australia, 2Royal North Shore Hospital, Spinal Unit, Sydney, Australia, 3The University of Sydney, School of Public Health, Sydney, Australia
Background: People with spinal cord injury are susceptible to many complications including contractures, respiratory problems and spasticity. In low- and middle-income countries it is not always feasible to screen patients for these conditions. It is therefore important to find inexpensive ways to screen people for secondary health conditions that do not require costly and regular face-to-face assessments. Spinal Cord Injury-Secondary Condition Scale (SCI-SCS) questionnaire is a 16-item questionnaire that covers common health conditions related to spinal cord injury. The original version of the SCI-SCS was designed to be self-administered through a pencil and paper questionnaire given to people with SCI. However, there are problems with this mode of delivery in low- and middle-income countries. First, it relies on literacy, and, second, compliance with posted questionnaires is often poor. The solution may be to administer the SCI-SCS by telephone.
Purpose: To determine the inter-rater reliability and validity of using a telephone-based version of the SCI-SCS.
Methods: Inter-rater reliability was tested by comparing the telephone-based version of the SCI-SCS administered on two different days by two different telephone assessors. Validity was tested by comparing the telephone-based version of the SCI-SCS with the paper-based version of the SCI-SCS.
Results: The median (IQR) age and time since injury were 54 (48 to 63) years and 28 (14 to 35) years, respectively. The intraclass correlation coefficient (95% CI) reflecting the agreement between the telephone-based version of the SCI-SCS administered on two different days by two different assessors was 0.96 (0.93 to 0.98). The corresponding values reflecting agreement between the telephone-based assessment and the paper-based assessment was 0.90 (0.83 to 0.95).
Conclusion(s): The telephone-based version of the SCI-SCS is a simple and quick questionnaire to administer that has both inter-rater reliability and validity when compared with the paper-based version of the SCISCS.
Implications: These findings have important practical implications because the scale could be administered by telephone in low- and middle-income countries where it may be cost prohibitive to provide regular face-to-face follow-up services for all people with spinal cord injury. A telephone interview overcomes problems of illiteracy and may be associated with a better response rate than mailed questionnaires.
Funding acknowledgements: There was no funding for this study.
Topic: Neurology: spinal cord injury
Ethics approval: The trial was approved by the Northern Sydney Health District HREC at Sydney, Australia.
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
