A telephone-based version of the spinal cord injury–secondary conditions scale: a reliability and validity study

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the inter-rater reliability and validity of using a telephone-based version of the spinal cord injury–secondary conditions scale (SCI–SCS). Trial design: A psychometric study was conducted. Setting: The study was conducted in Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia. Participants: Forty people with a complete or an incomplete spinal cord injury. 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 (interquartile range) age and time since injury were 54 (48–63) years and 28 (14–35) years, respectively. The intraclass correlation coefficient (95% confidence interval) reflecting the agreement between the telephone-based version of the SCI–SCS administered on two different days by two different assessors was 0.96 (0.93–0.98). The corresponding value reflecting agreement between the telephone-based assessment and the paper-based assessment was 0.90 (0.83–0.95). Conclusion: The telephone-based version of the SCI–SCS is a simple and a quick questionnaire to administer that has both inter-rater reliability and validity. It may be useful as a way to screen for secondary health conditions in low- and middle-income countries where it is not always feasible to provide routine face-to-face follow-ups and where literacy may be a problem.