Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 2, 2026
A Tissue Displacement-based Contusive Spinal Cord Injury Model in Mice
Published on: June 18, 2017
Measurement properties of the Spinal Cord Injury-Functional Index (SCI-FI) short forms
Allen W Heinemann1, Marcel P Dijkers2, Pengsheng Ni3
1Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL.
Objective:
To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Spinal Cord Injury-Functional Index (SCI-FI) short forms (basic mobility, self-care, fine motor, ambulation, manual wheelchair, and power wheelchair) based on internal consistency; correlations between short forms banks, full item bank forms, and a 10-item computer adaptive test version; magnitude of ceiling and floor effects; and test information functions.
Design:
Cross-sectional cohort study.
Setting:
Six rehabilitation hospitals in the United States.
Participants:
Individuals with traumatic spinal cord injury (N=855) recruited from 6 national Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems facilities.
Interventions:
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures:
SCI-FI full item bank, 10-item computer adaptive test, and parallel short form scores.
Results:
The SCI-FI short forms (with separate versions for individuals with paraplegia and tetraplegia) demonstrate very good internal consistency, group-level reliability, excellent correlations between short forms and scores based on the total item bank, and minimal ceiling and floor effects (except ceiling effects for persons with paraplegia on self-care, fine motor, and power wheelchair ability and floor effects for persons with tetraplegia on self-care, fine motor, and manual wheelchair ability). The test information functions are acceptable across the range of scores where most persons in the sample performed.
Conclusions:
Clinicians and researchers should consider the SCI-FI short forms when computer adaptive testing is not feasible.
