THE RIVERMEAD POST CONCUSSION SYMPTOMS QUESTIONNAIRE - A MEASURE OF SYMPTOMS COMMONLY EXPERIENCED AFTER HEAD-INJURY AND ITS RELIABILITY

After head injuries, particularly mild or moderate ones, a range of po st-concussion symptoms (PCS) are often reported by patients. Such symp toms may significantly affect patients' psychosocial functioning. To d ate, no measure of the severity of PCS has been developed. This study presents the Rivermead Post Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ) as such a measure, derived from published material, and investigates its reliability. The RPQ's reliability was investigated under two experim ental conditions. Study 1 examined its test-retest reliability when us ed as a self-report questionnaire at 7-10 days after injury. Forty-one head-injured patients completed an RPQ at 7-10 days following their h ead injury and again approximately 24 h later. Study 2 examined the qu estionnaire's inter-rater reliability when used as a measure administe red by two separate investigators. Forty-six head-injured patients had an RPQ administered by an investigator at 6 months after injury. A se cond investigator readministered the questionnaire approximately 7 day s later. Spearman rank correlation coefficients were calculated for ra tings on the total symptom scores, and for individual items. High reli ability was found for the total PCS scores under both experimental con ditions (R(s) = +0.91 in study 1 and R(s) = +0.87 in study 2). Good re liability was also found for individual PCS items,generally, although with some variation between different symptoms. The results are discus sed in relation to the major difficulties involved when looking for ap propriate experimental criteria against which measures of PCS can be v alidated.