P. Kersten et al., The Southampton Needs Assessment Questionnaire (SNAQ): a valid tool for assessing the rehabilitation needs of disabled people, CLIN REHAB, 14(6), 2000, pp. 641-650
Objective: To validate the Southampton Needs Assessment Questionnaire (SNAQ
) for use with disabled people during face-to-face interviews.
Design: The SNAG was designed to be used in a cross-sectional survey of dis
abled people with a physical disability with a follow-up study one year lat
er. Content and criterion validity was examined using 32 disabled people wh
o took part in the pilot study. Construct validity and internal reliability
was examined using data from 93 disabled people who took part in the main
survey. Responsiveness of the questionnaire was evaluated using the data ga
thered during a follow-up study of 77 people had taken part in the original
study.
Outcome measures: The OPCS Disability Severity Scales (OPCS) and the Functi
onal Independence Measure (FIM) were used to measure level of disability of
participants, the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) and the UK version of th
e SF-36 to examine perceived health status.
Participants: People with a primary physical disability, aged 16-65, random
ly selected from two disability registers in southern England.
Main results: Content and criterion validity were established. Construct va
lidity and internal reliability of the SNAG was good. Inter-rater reliabili
ty was not tested since only one researcher conducted the interviews. Test-
retest reliability was not formally tested because of the probability that
participants would learn from the first needs assessment questionnaire and
that different results on a retest occasion could arise from this. The SNAQ
was sensitive in picking up changes over time.
Conclusion: The SNAQ has shown good validity (content, coverage and constru
ct), internal reliability, sensitivity and responsiveness. Further studies
are needed to define the consequences of meeting or not meeting the rehabil
itation needs of disabled people. inter-rater reliability remains to be est
ablished.