Keywords

brain injury, communication disorders, language tests, outcome assessment, rehabilitation, reliability and validity

 

Authors

  1. Douglas, Jacinta M. PhD
  2. Bracy, Christine A. PhD
  3. Snow, Pamela C. PhD

Abstract

Objective: Further psychometric evaluation of a measure designed to assess communication ability after traumatic brain injury (TBI).

 

Design: Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and validity for self-report and close-other versions of the tool were evaluated.

 

Participants: Eighty-eight adults with severe TBI (mean posttraumatic amnesia 53.12 days) and 71 close others (relatives or friends).

 

Measure: The La Trobe Communication Questionnaire (LCQ), a 30-item questionnaire that measures cognitive-communication ability from multiple perspectives.

 

Results: Internal consistency coefficients were above 0.9 and test-retest reliability exceeded 0.80. The questionnaire was sensitive to the effect of severity of injury.

 

Conclusion: The La Trobe Communication Questionnaire is a promising tool for measuring perceived communication ability in adults with severe TBI.