Development of Composite Scores for the Traumatic Brain Injury Quality of Life Measurement System (TBI-QOL)

Publication date: Available online 3 July 2018
Source:Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Author(s): Callie E. Tyner, Aaron J. Boulton, Mark Sherer, Pam A. Kisala, Joseph J. Glutting, David S. Tulsky
ObjectiveTo develop a set of composite scores that can be used for interpreting quality of life (QOL) after traumatic brain injury (TBI) using nine of the patient reported outcomes measures from the TBI-QOL Measurement System.DesignParticipants completed 20 item banks from the TBI-QOL as part of a larger assessment. Composite index scores were created with normalized transformation with nonlinear area conversion using scores from nine of the banks, and are expressed in index score units, with higher composite scores indicating better functioning. For descriptive purposes, associations among composites and individual banks were evaluated using regression, along with patterns of composite scores by injury severity groups using ANOVA.SettingThree medical centers in the United States.ParticipantsFive hundred and four community-dwelling adults with a history of TBI.Interventionsn/aMain Outcomes Measure(s)TBI-QOLResultsFive composite indices were generated: Global QOL, Physical Health, Emotional Health, Cognitive Health, and Social Health. Lookup tables are provided herein. Composite scores were highly intercorrelated (all r > .60, p < .0001), and individual TBI-QOL banks all correlate strongly with the Global QOL Composite in the expected direction (all r > .50, p <.0001).ConclusionResearchers and clinicians can use the TBI-QOL Global QOL, Physical Health, Emotional Health, Cognitive Health, and Social Health composite scores to aggregate results from multiple TBI-QOL banks, which is anticipated to ease interpretation and reliability. This work additionally highlights the importance of considering non-physical symptoms as outcomes variables for TBI research, as cognitive, social, and emotional domains were some of the most strongly correlated banks with the Global QOL composite.



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