Reliability of a patient survey assessing "Short Form Injury Questionnaire 7" in Iran

Injury is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. The assessment of patterns and severity of injury in high-risk groups is crucial for planning and service development. On a large scale national household survey, we estimated the annual incidence and the patterns of injury, the demographics of the injured people, as well as the service use for all injuries in Iran. The current study aims at assessing the reliability of the questionnaire before carrying out a national survey.

In a pilot study using cluster random sampling approach, 73 people were interviewed. The interviewers asked the participants to report all injuries occurred in them and the care provided during the previous 12 months, based on "Short Form Injury Questionnaire 7" About two weeks later, the interview was repeated by another interviewer.

In our test-retest reliability, Kappa score was good for three and moderate for four questions. The question on the injured organ had the highest test-retest reliability with a Kappa score of 0.84.

The reliability of the questionnaire and the procedure of questioning are confirmed. The ques-tionnire is proper for utilization in large national surveies.