Measurement Characteristics and Clinical Utility of the Life Satisfaction Questionnaire 9 in a Spinal Cord Injury Population

There are several assessments that evaluate life satisfaction for those with spinal cord injury (SCI), and the Life Satisfaction Questionnaire 9 (LiSat-9) has merit due to the combination of efficiency and psychometric evidence.¹ Advancements in medicine and care yield an increased lifespan for those with SCI; therefore, life satisfaction is becoming increasingly important to evaluate.² The LiSat-9 assesses 9 aspects of life satisfaction including life as a whole, self-care management, leisure situations, vocation, financial situation, sexual life, partner relation, family life, and contact with friends and acquaintances.¹ The items on the LiSat-9 are answered using a 6-point Likert scale, which ranges from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 6 (very satisfied).¹ The total Life Satisfaction score is obtained by finding the mean of the item scores. Lower scores indicate dissatisfaction and higher scores indicate satisfaction. The LiSat-9 takes 10-30 minutes to complete, requires no formal training, and is free to use. The LiSat-9 has demonstrated adequate to excellent internal consistency,^{3.,  4.} excellent reliability,⁵ adequate to excellent concurrent validity,⁴ and adequate to excellent convergent validity² across several studies. The LiSat-9 also demonstrates responsiveness, varying from small to large effect size, 1 year after discharge from inpatient rehabilitation.⁶ In addition, there is an 11-item version available that includes domains of somatic and psychological health.