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ISSN 0963-8288 print/ISSN 1464-5165 online
ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES
Spinal Cord Unit, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocı́o, Seville, Spain
Abstract Keywords
Purpose: To provide a translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Spinal Cord Reliability, Spain, Spanish version of the
Independence Measure (SCIM) version III for Spain and to validate the Spanish version of Spinal Cord Independence Measure
the SCIM III (eSCIM III). Patients and methods: Development of eSCIM III has involved translation, version III, spinal cord injury, validity
back-translation and assessment of cultural equivalence procedures. eSCIM version III, was
administered to 64 patients with spinal cord injury, admitted to our hospital. Investigation of History
the psychometric characteristics included: (1) study of the inter-rater reliability, (2) internal
consistency (Cronbach’s a), (3) validation and confirmation of the correlation between eSCIM III Received 6 May 2013
For personal use only.
and Functional Independence Measure (FIM), and (4) sensitivity to change. Results: The Revised 28 October 2013
reliability of eSCIM III showed an intra-class coefficient value 40.97 in the different subscales Accepted 7 November 2013
assessed. Internal consistency of eSCIM III was shown by a Cronbach’s a value of 0.93. The Published online 9 December 2013
validity of eSCIM III was confirmed by the close correlation with FIM (r ¼ 0.94, p50.0001).
The sensitivity to change of eSCIM III was also confirmed. Conclusions: eSCIM III was found to be
culturally equivalent to the original version, as reliability and validity of this tool were
demonstrated. It can be used in Spain for functional assessment of patients with spinal
cord injury.
Introduction
Spinal cord injury represents a significant health problem due to The Functional Independence Measure (FIM) was developed
its clinical complexity, prolonged hospitalizations required, and designed to assess the functional level of patients, including
clinical follow-up needed throughout life and frequency of those with spinal cord injury [2,3]. Since its creation, this scale
complications involved. has been widely used and diffused, with multiple investigations
To describe the real impact derived from the spinal cord injury, demonstrating its metric characteristics [3–5]. However, some
it is required not only to assess the degree of deficiency presented studies showed certain limitations when this tool is used in
by these people, but also to evaluate the level of disability subjects with spinal cord injury, as difficulty to the sensitivity to
originated. The concept of functionality is not easy to quantify, a change [6], and in the evaluation of the functional level of patients
circumstance to be resolved by the use of tools of measurement [1]. with tetraplegia, which led to the development of specific
Hence, the importance of developing scales for functional instruments [7,8].
assessments. Under these premises, the Spinal Cord Independence Measure
(SCIM), was designed specifically to quantify the functional
assessment of patients with spinal cord injury. Since its
Address for correspondence: Dr Maria Jose Zarco-Periñan, PhD, Spinal
establishment, different versions were developed, resulting each
Cord Unit, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Hospital Universitario version in a more accurate and sensitive tool compared with the
Virgen del Rocı́o, Seville, Spain. Tel: +34 617557940; +34 955012598. previous one. Currently, the version III is used, as reliability,
E-mail: mjzarcop@ono.com validity and sensitivity to change of this scale have been
DOI: 10.3109/09638288.2013.864713 Development of the Spanish version SCIM version III 1645
evidenced [9,10]. The validity of each version of the SCIM has or C were discussed by the members of the committee, until a
been determined by comparison with FIM [9,10]. consensus was reached.
SCIM covers the evaluation of specific areas of function with Pilot study: The new Spanish version was assessed by two study
great relevance in the spinal cord injury, including self-care, investigators, and used initially in five patients with spinal cord
respiration and sphincter management, and mobility. Each area is injury. Clinicians were asked about: (1) difficulties in the use of
scored according to its proportional weight in the patient’s global the new tool, (2) difficulties with any of the items.
activity.
The use of SCIM version III is currently recommended to Validation of the Spanish version of the eSCIM III: patients
assess the functional recovery of patients with spinal cord injury, and procedure
both in clinical and research settings, due to the clinical viability
Patients
and the clinimetric characteristics shown by the tool [9,11].
The English version of the SCIM scale has been developed, but A total of 64 patients with spinal cord injury previously treated in
the use of these scales has to be standardized for different the Spinal Cord Injury Unit were included. Inclusion criteria
countries and cultures. Cross-cultural adaptation of a tool not only were: (1) spinal cord injury of traumatic or medical origin; (2)
requires its translation following a specific methodology, but also spinal cord injury (ASIA impairment grade A, B, C or D); (3)
evaluates its metric characteristics in the new language and verbally given consent for inclusion in the study.
culture [12]. Exclusion criteria included: (1) concomitant neurological
The purpose of this study is to provide the translation and disease which may alter the functional level previously estab-
cultural adaptation of the SCIM III to the Spanish language for its lished by the spinal cord injury; (2) presence of cognitive deficit
Disabil Rehabil Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Nyu Medical Center on 10/14/14
use in our country, Spain, and subsequently confirm the reliability or psychiatric disease, which may prevent collaboration of the
and validity of the new tool, the Spanish version of the SCIM III patient and influence the functional level.
(eSCIM III).
Procedure
Patients and method
Two authors of the study performed all evaluations. In a first
Study design: cross-sectional study. This study has two well- phase, demographic variables were collected and, subsequently
defined parts, as explained in the following sections. functional assessments were performed by using eSCIM III and
the FIM. Clinicians involved in patient assessment were trained
Cross-cultural adaptation: methodology with different scales.
(1) Assessment of the reliability of the scale: To show the
For the development of eSCIM III, we used a procedure with the
For personal use only.
adequate [14]. For homogeneity evaluation the Pearson correl- When the neurological impairment was considered (Table 1),
ation coefficient between each item and the total score of the scale 28 subjects (43.8%) had a complete injury, with incomplete injury
or corresponding subscale was used. in 36 (56.3%). Twenty-seven subjects (42.2%) had tetraplegia and
(3) Validity: For correlation between FIM and eSCIM III scales, 37 (48.4%) showed paraplegia. According to the ASIA impair-
Rho Spearman’s non-parametric correlation tests were used ment scale, 26 subjects (40.6%) were classified as grade A, and 18
(4) Sensitivity to change: Wilcoxon’s non-parametric test was (28.1%) were grade D.
used.
The statistical program Statistical Package Social Science, Validation of the Spanish version of the SCIM version III
version 19 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL) was used for the previous
Reliability analysis
analyses.
All items showed a high level of agreement, with a K-value40.90,
Results as shown in Table 2.
Inter-rater reliability: the intra-class coefficient for the eSCIM
Cross-cultural adaptation
III was 0.97 and a value 40.90 was obtained for different
Assessment of cultural equivalence subscales of the tool at admission and discharge (Tables 3 and 4).
The Pearson correlation coefficient for all subscales and the
Once the eSCIM III version was obtained, after translation and
total score was higher than 0.90 in all cases, with values ranging
back-translation were performed, the expert committee considered
from 0.90 in the self-care subscale to 0.95 in the mobility scale
that there were no differences in the conceptual and/or semantic
(Table 3).
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Besides, this scale has shown greater sensitivity to change However, analysis of the validity of a tool should be regarded
compared to FIM, particularly in areas like sphincter management as a successive verification, as one measurement is only
[15]. This has led us to perform the adaptation of this tool to the considered valid after accumulation of the evidences was
Spanish language for its use in Spain. obtained, and needs to be fulfilled. New studies demonstrating
The use of an instrument in a different language and country the validity of the Spanish version of the SCIIM III are required,
requires performing the processes of translation and cultural which has been already assessed in the original tool [26].
adaptation, i.e. to create a tool equivalent to the original scale. Our work has some limitations. The first is the small sample
This guarantees the assessment of the same concept in different used, although a similar sample size was used for the adaptation
cultures, allowing the comparison of the results [13,16,17]. The of this tool to other cultures [19]. Lack of variability within the
methodology used in this study assures the quality of the process, sample is another possible limitation, which may determine data
considering eSCIM III as a tool conceptually equivalent to the generation. It could increase the reliability values. However, other
original version [13,18]. Moreover, eSCIM III is the first, specific published studies have also used samples with a similar distribu-
assessment tool in patients with spinal cord injury adapted for its tion to ours [21]. In addition, in our work, the rater’s bias has been
use in Spain. controlled because in the reliability study each patient was
This study evaluated the clinimetric characteristics and evaluated by two evaluators belonging to the same profession
demonstrated that eSCIM III is a valid and reliable scale to be (physicians) and who knew the tool. The agreement between
used in spinal cord injury. Reliability has been shown by the high raters was confirmed in our results.
rate of agreement among raters. Moreover, our data support the
inter-rater reliability, with values higher than those obtained in
Disabil Rehabil Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Nyu Medical Center on 10/14/14
Conclusion
the original version [10], for the global scale and also for the
subscales, although similar to those obtained during the cultural The Spanish version of SCIM III is a tool culturally equivalent to
adaptation performed with this tool [19,20]. the original version. The validity and reliability of the eSCIM III
By analysis of the homogeneity of the scale, we verified that version have been demonstrated. The Spanish version of the
this instrument is designed to assess the same characteristic or SCIM III can be used as a tool for functional assessment of
functional area [10], and that elimination of the items of the scale patients with spinal cord injury in our country (see Appendix).
is not required, with the exception of the item ‘‘Respiration’’. We
confirmed that, similar to the original version, the subscale
Declaration of interest
respiration-sphincter showed the lowest correlation values.
The internal consistency of eSCIM III, as measured by The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Cronbach’s a coefficient, was shown to be higher than the
For personal use only.
usually accepted limit of 0.7 for the global eSCIM III (0.93 in our
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Appendix
SPANISH VERSION OF THE SPINAL CORD INDEPENDENCE MEASURE VERSION III (eSCIM III)
Unidad de Lesionados Medulares. Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocı́o, Sevilla
CUIDADO PERSONAL
1. ALIMENTACIÓN œœœœœœ
(Cortar, abrir envases, servirse, llevarse la comida a la boca, sostener una taza con lı́quido)
For personal use only.
2. BAÑO
(Enjabonarse, lavarse, secarse cuerpo y cabeza, manejar el grifo)
A. Parte superior del cuerpo œœœœœœ
0. Requiere asistencia total.
1. Requiere asistencia parcial.
2. Se lava de forma independiente con ayudas técnicas o accesorios especı́ficos (por ej. silla, barras. . .).
3. Se lava de forma independiente; no requiere ayudas técnicas o accesorios especı́ficos (no habituales para personas sanas).
3. VESTIDO
(Ropa, zapatos, ortesis permanentes: ponérselos, llevarlos puesto y quitárselos)
A. Parte superior del cuerpo œœœœœœ
0. Requiere asistencia total.
1. Requiere asistencia parcial con prendas de ropa sin botones, cremalleras o cordones.
2. Independiente con prendas de ropa sin botones, cremalleras o cordones; requiere ayudas técnicas y/o accesorios especı́ficos.
3. Independiente con prendas de ropa sin botones, cremalleras o botones; no requiere ayudas técnicas ni accesorios especı́ficos; requiere asistencia o
ayudas técnicas o accesorios especı́ficos sólo para botones, cremalleras o cordones.
4. Se pone (cualquier prenda) independientemente; no requiere ayudas técnicas o accesorios especı́ficos.
0. Sonda permanente.
3. Volumen de orina residual 4100 cc; no cateterismo regular o cateterismo intermitente asistido.
6. Volumen de orina residual 5100 cc o autocateterismos intermitentes; necesita asistencia para utilizar los instrumentos de drenaje.
9. Autocateterismos intermitentes; usa instrumentos de drenaje externo; no necesita asistencia para colocárselos.
11. Autocateterismos intermitentes; continente entre sondajes; no utiliza instrumentos de drenaje externos.
13. Volumen de orina residual 5100 cc; necesita únicamente instrumento de drenaje externo de orina; no requiere asistencia para el drenaje.
15. Volumen urinario residual 5100 cc; continente; no utiliza instrumento de drenaje externo.
8. WC - INODORO œœœœœœ
(Higiene perineal, ajuste de prendas antes/después, uso de compresas o pañales)
0. Requiere asistencia total.
1. Requiere asistencia parcial: no se limpia solo.
2. Requiere asistencia parcial: se limpia independientemente.
4. Usa el WC de forma independiente en todas las tareas pero necesita ayudas técnicas o accesorios especı́ficos (por ej. barras).
5. Usa el WC de forma independiente; no requiere ayudas técnicas o accesorios especı́ficos.
(Acercarse al coche, frenar la silla de ruedas, retirar reposabrazos y reposapiés, realizar transferencias a y desde el coche, introducir la silla de ruedas
dentro y fuera del coche)
0. Requiere asistencia total.
1. Necesita asistencia parcial y/o supervisión y/o ayudas técnicas.
2. Se transfiere de forma independiente; no requiere ayudas técnicas (o no requiere silla de ruedas).