The SCILS is a self-report measure of the frequency of health-related behaviour performance in individuals with SCI. The tool was designed to enable examination of the effectiveness of clinical and educational efforts for health maintenance and prevention of secondary impairments (Pruitt et al. 1998). The items were developed from a review of the literature on secondary impairments related to SCI.  In addition, expert clinicians (physician assistants, nurses and physiotherapists) generated items describing health related behaviours. Each item describes different health behaviours. The 5 subscales include: cardiovascular, genitourinary, neuromuscular, skin, and psychosocial.  Its purpose is to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical and educational efforts for health maintenance and the prevention of secondary impairments following SCI.

Number of items: 25

Procedure/Administration:  Data can be collected by pen and paper or through interview if the individual is unable to write. The frequency with which each behaviour has been performed over the past 3 months is rated using an ordinal scale where 4-‘almost always’, 3-‘frequently’, 2-‘sometimes’, 1-‘rarely’ and 0-‘never’. One item (genitourinary) is reverse scored.

How scored: A score is generated for each scale by totaling scores of each item using a 0-4 point scale. A total score is calculated by summing the 5 scale scores. Sub-scale scores may be used to identify/address specific areas of concern.

Interpretability: Higher total scores are intended to indicate better performance of behaviours which in turn promote health in individuals with SCI. The scores could be used for each sub-scale or as a tool for general overall health. There are no norms or reported cut scores.

Acceptability: Individuals with SCI participated in item elimination during tool development therefore the included items should resonate with the population.

Languages: English

Usability: N/a

Time to administer: 10-15 minutes

Time to score: 10-15 minutes

Training required: N/a

Availability: A copy is available from the authors.

Equipment required: N/a

Summary:

• Although the authors identified a comprehensive list of secondary impairments, only some of these impairments have been included in the tool. For example, some of the missed items include autonomic dysreflexia, deep vein thrombosis, pressure relief in bed, and adjustment to disability.

Psychometric Summary:

Note: TR= Test re-test; IC= Internal Consistency; Inter-O= Inter-observer; Intra-O= Intra-observer; SS= Sensitivity/Specificity; N/a= No information.

Red light= A single study involving SCI subjects which has less than adequate findings of reliability, validity, and/or responsiveness.

Yellow light= A single study involving subjects with SCI which has adequate to excellent findings of reliability, validity, and/or responsiveness.

Green light= At least 2 studies involving subjects with SCI which have adequate to excellent findings of reliability, validity, and/or responsiveness.

References

• Pruitt SD, Wahlgren DR, Epping-Jordan JE, Rossi AL. Health behavior in persons with spinal cord injury: development and initial validation of an outcome measure. Spinal Cord 1998;36:724-731