Evaluation of newly developed item banks for child-reported outcomes of participation following spinal cord injury

Abstract

Study Design: Multi-center, prospective calibration study.Objectives: To examine the psychometric properties of item banks designed for a computer adaptive test of participation. Setting: Three pediatric specialty care hospitals in North America. Methods: Newly developed item banks containing questions about participation were administered to 381 children, 8-21 years. Unidimensionality was evaluated using categorical confirmatory factor analysis and residual correlations. Pearsons correlations were calculated between simulated CATs and the full-item banks.Results:CFI0.905, TLI0.951 and RMSEA0.089 for the self-participation item bank; CFI0.924, TLI0.963 and RMSEA0.083 friend-participation item bank. The 15-and 5-item simulated CATs and full-item banks were highly correlated.Conclusion:The newly developed self and friend-participation item banks met the required assumptions for CAT. Simulated CATs yielded scores comparable to full-item banks. The results of the study support the use of the item banks for a CAT of participation in children following spinal cord injury.Sponsorship:The study was funded by the Shriners Hospitals for Children Research Advisory Board (RAB 9146). © 2012 International Spinal Cord Society All rights reserved.