TY - JOUR
T1 - Measuring health-related quality of life for persons with mobility impairments
T2 - An enabled version of the short-form 36 (SF-36E)
AU - Froehlich-Grobe, Katherine
AU - Andresen, Elena M.
AU - Caburnay, Charlene
AU - White, Glen W.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements This work was funded, in part, by two grants from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: the Office of Disability and Health grant to The University of Kansas (R04/ CCR717707-01) and the Prevention Research Center at Saint Louis University (U48CCU710806). Thanks to study contributors: Stephen F. Figoni, PhD; Jessica Roberts, PhD; Dot Nary, MA; and Janet Marquis, PhD and to Kathleen Wyrwich, PhD, for her assistance with statistical analyses. Finally, thanks to the ILCs and respondents for participating.
PY - 2008/6
Y1 - 2008/6
N2 - Objective: Examine psychometric properties of the SF-36 and SF-36E for mobility-impaired individuals and assess whether the SF-36E yields higher health-related quality-of-life scores. Methods: We altered the SF-36 Physical Function scale by substituting the word "go" for "walk" and "climb" and changed the stem to reflect function using assistive devices. We compared responses between versions for 201 individuals with disabilities (n = 95 wheelchair users, n = 48 other device users, 58 = no device users). Results: Both surveys yielded reliable scores, but floor and ceiling effects occurred with both versions. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrate good fit for the SF-36 and SF36E, but were compromised by low sample size. Respondents demonstrated significantly better Role Physical, Bodily Pain, and Vitality on the SF-36E, but worse General Health. Conclusions: The World Health Organization framework, the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) suggests that it is important to know both what one can do without assistance (capacity) and what one can do with assistance (performance). Results suggest that the SF-36E successfully measures performance among mobility-impaired individuals, including wheelchair users. However, further validation studies of the SF-36 and SF-36E are warranted with samples of individuals with disabilities.
AB - Objective: Examine psychometric properties of the SF-36 and SF-36E for mobility-impaired individuals and assess whether the SF-36E yields higher health-related quality-of-life scores. Methods: We altered the SF-36 Physical Function scale by substituting the word "go" for "walk" and "climb" and changed the stem to reflect function using assistive devices. We compared responses between versions for 201 individuals with disabilities (n = 95 wheelchair users, n = 48 other device users, 58 = no device users). Results: Both surveys yielded reliable scores, but floor and ceiling effects occurred with both versions. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrate good fit for the SF-36 and SF36E, but were compromised by low sample size. Respondents demonstrated significantly better Role Physical, Bodily Pain, and Vitality on the SF-36E, but worse General Health. Conclusions: The World Health Organization framework, the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) suggests that it is important to know both what one can do without assistance (capacity) and what one can do with assistance (performance). Results suggest that the SF-36E successfully measures performance among mobility-impaired individuals, including wheelchair users. However, further validation studies of the SF-36 and SF-36E are warranted with samples of individuals with disabilities.
KW - Bias
KW - Disabled persons
KW - Health status
KW - Health surveys
KW - Quality of life
KW - Reproducibility of results
KW - SF-36
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U2 - 10.1007/s11136-008-9342-5
DO - 10.1007/s11136-008-9342-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 18427950
AN - SCOPUS:49949152495
SN - 0962-9343
VL - 17
SP - 751
EP - 770
JO - Quality of Life Research
JF - Quality of Life Research
IS - 5
ER -