Abstract
Study design:
Cross-sectional study 5 years after discharge from inpatient rehabilitation.
Objective:
To examine the psychometric properties of the Mental Health subscale (MHI-5) of the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI).
Setting:
Eight Dutch rehabilitation centres with specialised SCI units.
Methods:
Possible floor and ceiling effects were assessed, and Cronbach′s α coefficient was calculated to assess internal consistency. Concurrent and divergent validity were assessed using Spearman correlations between the MHI-5 and measures of life satisfaction, neuroticism, vitality, general health, functional independence, participation, lesion characteristics and demographics.
Results:
There were no floor or ceiling effects, but the total MHI-5 score was slightly skewed (−1.15). Internal consistency was good (α=0.79). Concurrent validity was shown by significant Spearman correlations between the MHI-5 and life satisfaction (0.53), neuroticism (−0.55), vitality (0.53) and general health (0.37). Divergent validity was shown by weak and, in part, non-significant correlations between the MHI-5 and functional independence (0.09), participation (−0.28) and lesion characteristics (range −0.01–0.19).
Conclusion:
The MHI-5 showed reliability and validity as a measure of mood in persons with SCI, and is a promising measurement instrument to assess mental health problems in this population.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the participating Dutch rehabilitation centres, and the research assistants in these centres who collected all data: Rehabilitation Center De Hoogstraat (Utrecht), Reade, centre for rehabilitation and rheumatology (Amsterdam), Rehabilitation Center Het Roessingh (Enschede), Adelante (Hoensbroek), Rehabilitation Center Sint Maartenskliniek (Nijmegen), Center for Rehabilitation - Location Beatrixoord (Haren), Rehabilitation Center Heliomare (Wijk aan Zee), and Rehabilitation Center Rijndam (Rotterdam). This study was supported by the Dutch Health Research and Development Council, ZON-MW Rehabilitation program, grant no. 1435.0003 and 1435.0025.
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van Leeuwen, C., van der Woude, L. & Post, M. Validity of the mental health subscale of the SF-36 in persons with spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord 50, 707–710 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2012.33
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2012.33
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