The community integration questionnaire revisited: An assessment of factorstructure and validity

Objective: To investigate the factor structure and concurrent validity of t he Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ), using a large sample of perso ns with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Design: Principal components analysis with varimax rotation was performed o n CIQ items completed through interview with patients at 1 year after injur y. Correlational analyses compared CIQ scores to scores on other widely use d outcome measures. Setting: Outpatient clinics affiliated with four TBI Model System rehabilit ation centers funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilita tion Research. Participants: Three hundred twelve patients with medically documented TBI w ho were enrolled in the TBI Model Systems Project. The majority of patients were Caucasian males with severe TBI. Main Outcome Measures: CIQ; Functional Independence Measure (FIM); Function al Assessment Measure (FAM); Disability Rating Scale (DRS). Results: Three factors emerged: Home Competency, Social Integration, and Pr oductive Activity. The financial management item was moved from Social Inte gration to Home Competency, and the travel item was moved from Productive A ctivity to Social Integration. Each CIQ scale score showed significant corr elations in the expected direction with the FIM+FAM and DRS items. Conclusions: The results provide further evidence for the validity of the C IQ and improve the scoring system. The factor structure is clinically and t heoretically meaningful. The subscale and total scores show significant rel ationships with other widely used measures of outcome. Future research shou ld focus on increasing the range of questions, accounting for changes from preinjury functioning, and obtaining normative data on the new factors. (C) 1999 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.