Validating SF-36 following traumatic brain injury

An abstract of a study by Guilfoyle et al that investigates whether the fundamental psychometric properties that underpin SF-36 score calculations are maintained in the traumatic brain injury (TBI) population and consequently if SF-36 scores can be validly reported for these patients is presented. Results show that SF-36 responses from patients recovering from TBI fulfil the basic requirements to derive meaningful health domain scale scores. However, physical and mental component summary scores may not be valid in this context and should be interpreted with caution. SF-36 is a useful adjunct measure of outcome in TBI alongside traditional disease-specific assessments.