Problems of patients with chronic aphasia: different perspectives of husbands and wives?

The European Brain Injury Questionnaire (EBIQ) as a reliable outcome measure for use with people with brain injury

PRIMARY PURPOSE

There is a need to develop reliable outcome measures to determine well-being after brain injury. In 1997, Teasdale et al. published the European Brain Injury Questionnaire (EBIQ), a self-report and relative-report measure of the subjective experience of cognitive, emotional and social difficulties experienced by people with brain injury. It is now used in several rehabilitation centres as an outcome measure, but its test-re-test reliability has yet not been determined. The primary purpose of the present study is to establish this degree of reliability.

RESEARCH DESIGN

The EBIQ was administered twice within an approximately 1-month period to 50 people with brain injury, to 20 relatives of people with brain injury and to 51 normal controls.

RESULTS

The results showed significant and satisfactory test-re-test reliabilities for all three groups across all nine EBIQ scales (r = 0.55-0.90).

CONCLUSION

It is concluded that the EBIQ is a clinically reliable measure to determine the subjective well-being of people with brain injury and to assess change of subjective concerns over time.

Effects of communication-debilitating illnesses and injuries on close relationships: a relational maintenance perspective

A communication-debilitating illness or injury (CDI) presents significant challenges for patients as well as for friends and family. In a qualitative study of the effects of a CDI on close relationships, 28 individuals with loved ones who had experienced a CDI were interviewed. Participants described adjustments in communication with the patient and explained what it is like to experience a relationship with a CDI patient. Themes that emerged transcended the type of illness and relationship. Recommendations are made for further research that focuses on patients' relationships with a variety of social network members, beyond primary caregivers.

The structural properties of the European Brain Injury Questionnaire

OBJECTIVE

We sought to examine the reliability and validity of the European Brain Injury Questionnaire as an evaluation tool in a stroke population by applying the Rasch methodology.

METHODS

The European Brain Injury Questionnaire was distributed to 54 patients with stroke and 36 next of kin at discharge from the rehabilitation ward and at a 1-year follow-up. Rasch analysis was used for evaluating the psychometric characteristic and the quality of the measures produced with focus on reliability and validity. The reliability was determined by the separation. The construct validity was determined by examining the hierarchy of the tasks and by evaluating the fit of individual tasks to the latent construct. Analyses of differences across occasions, and across patients and next of kin, were made to examine the stability of the instrument.

RESULTS

The reliability was good as the instrument met the criteria for separation. Two items at discharge and 5 items at 1-year follow-up were misfits. If not more than 5% of the items fail to fit the Rasch model the instrument can be considered unidimensional, which in this case only concerned the 1-year follow-up. The instrument was stable over time and across patients and next of kin.

CONCLUSION

With some alterations the European Brain Injury Questionnaire seems to be a useful instrument in clinical practice and research, and a help to capture the social, emotional, and cognitive impacts of a stroke.