HEALTH BEHAVIOR IN PERSONS WITH SPINAL-CORD INJURY - DEVELOPMENT AND INITIAL VALIDATION OF AN OUTCOME MEASURE

Objective: To describe the development and initial psychometric proper ties of a new outcome measure for health behaviors that delay or preve nt secondary impairments associated with spinal cord injury (SCI). Des ign: Persons with SCI were surveyed during routine annual physical eva luations. Setting: Veterans Affairs Medical Center Spinal Cord Injury Unit, which specializes in primary care for persons with SCI. Particip ants: Forty-nine persons with SCI, aged 19 - 73 years, 1 - 50 years po st-SCI. Main Outcome Measure: The newly developed Spinal Cord Injury L ifestyle Scale (SCILS). Results: internal consistency is high (alpha=0 .81). Correlations between clinicians' ratings of participants' health behavior and the new SCILS provide preliminary support for construct validity. Conclusion: The SCILS is a brief, self-report measure of hea lth-related behavior in persons with SCI. It is a promising new outcom e measure to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical and educational ef forts for health maintenance and prevention of secondary impairments a ssociated with SCI.