Purpose: The disability and resulting dependence after acquired brain injury (ABI) significantly reduces quality of life (QoL), making the correct assessment of QoL important. However, the instruments currently used to assess QoL are either reductionist, including only health-related aspects, or, like the CAVIDACE scale, are based on multidimensional models but ignore the individual's perspective. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to validate the self-report version of the CAVIDACE scale.
Method: The sample consisted of 345 adults with ABI aged between 18 and 91 years (M = 54.83; SD = 14.91). The participants' QoL was evaluated by professionals and family members and by the participants themselves, using the original version of the CAVIDACE scale and an adapted self-report version. The following complementary variables were also measured: social support, depression, community integration, and resilience.
Results: The results supported the internal structure of the scale based on the theoretical model. According to this model, QoL is composed of eight first-order intercorrelated domains (RMSEA = 0.050, CFI = 0.891, TLI = 0.881). The internal consistency, determined by omega rank, was adequate in seven of the eight domains, ranging between 0.66 (PW) and 0.87 (SI). The convergent and discriminant validity of the scale was very good overall.
Conclusions: The self-report version of the CAVIDACE was demonstrated to be a specific instrument with very good psychometric properties and is a very useful complement in the assessment of QoL in people with ABI.
Keywords: Acquired brain injury; CAVIDACE Scale; Psychometric properties; Quality of life; Self-report.