Objective: The aim of the study was to check on the reliability and validity of the translated version of Nociception Coma Scale-Revised.
Design: Prospective psychometric study.
Setting: Rehabilitation and neurology unit in hospital.
Subjects: Patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness.
Interventions: None.
Main measures: The original English version of the Nociception Coma Scale-Revised was translated into Chinese. The reliability and validity were undertaken by trained raters. Intraclass correlation coefficients were used to assess inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability. Cronbach's alpha test was used to investigate internal consistency. Spearman's correlation was used to calculate concurrent validity. The Coma Recovery Scale-revised was used to assess the consciousness of patients.
Results: Eighty-four patients were enrolled in the study. Inter-rater reliability of the Chinese version of Nociception Coma Scale-Revised was high for total scores and motor and verbal subscores and good for facial subscores. Test-retest reliability was high for total score and for all subscores. Analysis revealed a moderate internal consistency for subscores. For the concurrent validity, a strong correlation was found between the Nociception Coma Scale-Revised and the Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, and Consolability behavioral scale for all patients. A moderate correlation was found between the Nociception Coma Scale-Revised and the Coma Recovery Scale-revised scores for all patients.
Conclusion: The Chinese version of Nociception Coma Scale-Revised has good reliability and validity data for assessing responses to pain in patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness.
Keywords: Nociception; minimally conscious state; pain; prolonged disorders of consciousness; unresponsive wakefulness syndrome.