Development and initial evaluation of the SCI-FI/AT

The Spinal Cord Injury Functional Index (SCI-FI) was created to address the limitations of generic functional outcome measures when used with individuals who have a spinal cord injury. The original SCI-FI banks contain few items in the calibrated item pool that measure a person’s performance using AT. The SCI-FI/AT was developed to provide supplemental item content that is most appropriate for AT users. The SCI-FI/AT measures a person’s ability to function using assistive technology (AT) in areas like Basic Mobility, Self-care, Ambulation, and Fine Motor Function.

• 1
  The SCI-FI/AT replicated the domain structure in the original SCI-FI instrument and revealed strong psychometric properties for all domain scales in a sample of adults with paraplegia or tetraplegia.
• 2
  High correlations of simulated 10-item CATs with full item banks indicated high accuracy of the CAT in estimating a person’s underlying functional ability.
• 3
  SCI-FI/AT item difficulties in the domains of Self-care, Fine Motor Function, and Ambulation were less difficult than the same items in SCI-FI.