The new Swedish Post-Concussion Symptoms questionnaire: a measure of symptoms after mild traumatic brain injury and its concurrent validity and inter-rater reliability.

Full Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To study the concurrent validity and the inter-rater reliability of the Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire. DESIGN: The approach was to study the concurrent validity of the Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire when used as an interview questionnaire compared with a self-report questionnaire administered by the patients. The inter-rater reliability was also studied when 2 different raters administered the Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire interview. PATIENTS: Thirty-five patients with mild traumatic brain injury were consecutively contacted by telephone and asked whether they would be willing to participate in a follow-up intervention. METHODS: The Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire was completed by the patients, who answered "Yes" or "No" to the standardized questions. The patients were then interviewed to check the certain "Yes" or "No" answers, 0-10 days after having completed the first Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire. The raters filled in their ratings independently. RESULTS: The concurrent validity of answers in the questionnaire compared with those in the interview ranged from 82% to 100% agreement. The inter-rater reliability results ranged from 93% to 100% agreement between the raters. CONCLUSION: The Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire with answers of "Yes" or "No" is a valid instrument. High reliability was found between the raters.

Author information

Author/s: Elgmark Andersson, Elisabeth (E); Emanuelson, Ingrid (I); Olsson, Margareta (M); Stålhammar, Daniel (D); Starmark, Jan-Erik (JE);

Affiliation: Rehabilitation Medicine, From the Institute of Clinical Neuroscience, Göteborg, Sweden. elisabeth.elgmark(-atsign-)hhj.hj.se

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of rehabilitation medicine : official journal of the UEMS European Board of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (J Rehabil Med), published in Sweden. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Jan; vol 38 (issue 1) : pp 26-31

Dates: Created 2006/03/20; Completed 2006/03/28; Revised 2007/11/15;

PMID: 16548083, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

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