Rasch analysis of postconcussive symptoms: Development of crosswalks and the brain injury symptom scale

Model System:

TBI

Reference Type:

Journal article

Accession No.:

J82335

Journal:

Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Year, Volume, Issue, Page(s):

2019 , 100, 10, 1844-1852

Publication Website:

Abstract:

Study developed a Rasch-based crosswalk between 2 postconcussive symptom measures, the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI) and the Rivermead Postconcussive Symptom Questionnaire (RPQ), and utilized Rasch analysis to formulate a new proposed scale containing the best theoretical and psychometric items. NSI and RPQ data were analyzed for 497 community-dwelling adults who were previously hospitalized and diagnosed with mild to severe traumatic brain injury. Rasch analysis revealed 4 subdimensions across the 2 scales: cognitive, affective, physical, and visual. Crosswalk tables were generated for the first 3. Visual items were too few to generate a crosswalk. Iterative Rasch analysis produced a new scale with items rated from none to severe including the best items in each of these dimensions. Results indicate that the NSI and RPQ have considerable overlap and measure the same overarching constructs. Crosswalk tables may be helpful for clinicians and researchers to convert scores from 1 measure to the other. A more psychometrically sound scale, the Brain Injury Symptom Scale, composed of items from the NSI and RPQ, is proposed and will need further validation.

Author(s):