The World Health Organization Disability Assessment Scale, WHODAS II: Reliability and validity in the measurement of activity and participation in a spinal cord injury population
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.2340/16501977-1016Keywords:
spinal cord injury, participation, disability, assessment, psychometric properties, Rasch analyses.Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the reliability and validity of WHODAS II within the spinal cord injury population. Subjects: Sixty-three people with traumatic spinal cord injury. Methods: The World Health Organization Disability Assessment Scale II (WHODAS II), Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique, and Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (MOS SF-36) were administered at 2 years post discharge from rehabilitation. Distribution, reliability, discriminant validity, and convergent/divergent validity were evaluated using classical tests. Rasch analyses were applied to assess dimensionality, item spread, and person/item reliability. Results: Cronbach?s alpha coefficients ranged from 0. 61 (getting around) to 0. 97 (participation). Ceiling effects were present in 4 out of 6 domains. WHODAS II discriminated between levels of impairment and work force status on ?self-care?, ?getting around?, ?life activities?, and total score. Correlations with MOS SF-36 supported convergent/divergent validity. Five items didn?t fit the Rasch model. The item/person map reveald a shortage of items able to differentiate the more able person. WHODAS II demonstrated good person and item separation and reliability. Conclusion: This study provides preliminary support for reliability and validity of WHODAS II in a spinal cord injured population. Limitations were noted for dimensionality and item person distribution. Findings need to be confirmed in larger samples.Downloads
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
All digitalized JRM contents is available freely online. The Foundation for Rehabilitation Medicine owns the copyright for all material published until volume 40 (2008), as from volume 41 (2009) authors retain copyright to their work and as from volume 49 (2017) the journal has been published Open Access, under CC-BY-NC licences (unless otherwise specified). The CC-BY-NC licenses allow third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material for non-commercial purposes, provided proper attribution to the original work.
From 2024, articles are published under the CC-BY licence. This license permits sharing, adapting, and using the material for any purpose, including commercial use, with the condition of providing full attribution to the original publication.
