Reliability of the relative's questionnaire for assessment of outcome after brain injury.

Abstract

The relative's questionnaire (RQ) was developed to assess outcome after brain injury. The present study investigated its test-retest reliability when used in a postal survey. Hospital records were used to identify and contact 288 surviving patients treated for brain injury five to seven years earlier. Patients were sent a copy of the RQ (RQ1) and one month later a second copy (RQ2) was sent to those who returned RQ1. Two hundred and eleven patients were successfully contacted, of whom 128 (61%) returned RQ1, and 94 of these (73%) returned RQ2. The reliability of items was variable, with most having a kappa value of > 0.6 suggesting 'substantial agreement' or better. The data presented suggest that the RQ is a reliable instrument in collecting outcome information in brain-injured patients by postal survey. Further research is recommended to test the suitability of the RQ for the use as a telephone interview.