Objective: To investigate the factor structure and concurrent validity of the Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ), using a large sample of persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Design: Principal components analysis with varimax rotation was performed on CIQ items completed through interview with patients at 1 year after injury. Correlational analyses compared CIQ scores to scores on other widely used outcome measures.
Setting: Outpatient clinics affiliated with four TBI Model System rehabilitation centers funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.
Participants: Three hundred twelve patients with medically documented TBI who 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); Functional Assessment Measure (FAM); Disability Rating Scale (DRS).
Results: Three factors emerged: Home Competency, Social Integration, and Productive Activity. The financial management item was moved from Social Integration to Home Competency, and the travel item was moved from Productive Activity to Social Integration. Each CIQ scale score showed significant correlations in the expected direction with the FIM+FAM and DRS items.
Conclusions: The results provide further evidence for the validity of the CIQ and improve the scoring system. The factor structure is clinically and theoretically meaningful. The subscale and total scores show significant relationships with other widely used measures of outcome. Future research should focus on increasing the range of questions, accounting for changes from preinjury functioning, and obtaining normative data on the new factors.