Understanding health-related quality of life in caregivers of civilians and service members/veterans with traumatic brain injury: Reliability and validity data for the TBI-CareQOL measurement system

Publication date: Available online 30 June 2018
Source:Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Author(s): Noelle E. Carlozzi, Rael T. Lange, Louis M. French, Angelle M. Sander, Phillip A. Ianni, David S. Tulsky, Jennifer A. Miner, Michael A. Kallen, Tracey A. Brickell
ObjectivesTo establish the reliability and validity of the newly developed TBI-CareQOL patient reported outcomes measures in caregivers of civilians and service members/veterans (SMVs) with traumatic brain injury (TBI) so that they can be used with confidence in clinical research and practice.DesignComputer-based surveys delivered through an on-line data capture platform.Setting: Three TBI Model Systems rehabilitation hospitals, an academic medical center, and a military medical treatment facility.ParticipantsFive hundred and sixty caregivers of individuals with TBI; this included two different study samples: 344 caregivers of civilians with TBI and 216 caregivers of SMVs with TBI.InterventionNot ApplicableMain Outcome Measures5 TBI-CareQOL item banksResultsReliabilities for the TBI-CareQOL measures were excellent (all Cronbach's α > .88); three-week test-retest reliability ranged from .75 to .90 across the two samples. Convergent validity was supported by moderate to high associations among the TBI-CareQOL measures and moderate correlations between the TBI-CareQOL measures and other measures of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and caregiver burden. Discriminant validity was supported by low correlations between the TBI-CareQOL measures and less-related constructs (e.g., caregiver satisfaction). Known groups validity was supported: caregivers of individuals that were low functioning had worse HRQOL than caregivers of high functioning individuals.ConclusionsResults provide psychometric support for the new TBI-CareQOL item banks. As such, these measures fill a significant gap in the caregiver literature where sensitive patient-reported outcomes (PRO) measures that capture changes in HRQOL are needed to detect improvements for interventions designed to assist family caregivers.



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