Abstract
Objective
To develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of an item set measuring economic
quality of life (QOL) for use by individuals with disabilities.
Design
Survey.
Setting
Community settings.
Participants
Individuals with disabilities completed individual interviews (n=64), participated
in focus groups (n=172), and completed cognitive interviews (n=15). Inclusion criteria
included the following: traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, or stroke; age
≥18 years; and ability to read and speak English. We calibrated the items with 305
former rehabilitation inpatients.
Interventions
None.
Main Outcome Measure
Economic QOL.
Results
Confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable fit indices (comparative fit index=.939,
root mean square error of approximation=.089) for the 37 items. However, 3 items demonstrated
local item dependence. Dropping 9 items improved fit and obviated local dependence.
Rasch analysis of the remaining 28 items yielded a person reliability of .92, suggesting
that these items discriminate about 4 economic QOL levels.
Conclusions
We developed a 28-item bank that measures economic aspects of QOL. Preliminary confirmatory
factor analysis and Rasch analysis results support the psychometric properties of
this new measure. It fills a gap in health-related QOL measurement by describing the
economic barriers and facilitators of community participation. Future development
will make the item bank available as a computer adaptive test.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
CFA (confirmatory factor analysis), CFI (comparative fit index), HRQOL (health-related quality of life), QOL (quality of life), RMSEA (root mean square error of approximation), SCI (spinal cord injury), SCI-QOL (Spinal Cord Injury Quality of Life Measurement System), TBI (traumatic brain injury), TBI-QOL (Traumatic Brain Injury Quality of Life Measurement System)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 12, 2014
Footnotes
Supported by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (grant nos. H133B090024, H133A030807, and H133G070138) and the National Institutes of Health (grant no. 5R01HD054659).
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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- Environmental Barriers and Supports to Everyday Participation: A Qualitative Insider Perspective From People With DisabilitiesArchives of Physical Medicine and RehabilitationVol. 96Issue 4
- Environmental Factors Item Development for Persons With Stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Spinal Cord InjuryArchives of Physical Medicine and RehabilitationVol. 96Issue 4
- PreviewTo describe methods used in operationalizing environmental factors; to describe the results of a research project to develop measures of environmental factors that affect participation; and to define an initial item set of facilitators and barriers to participation after stroke, traumatic brain injury, and spinal cord injury.
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