School of Psychology, University of Birmingham , Birmingham, UK.
Brain Inj. 2020 Jul 2;34(8):1089-1099. doi: 10.1080/02699052.2020.1767304. Epub 2020 May 23.
Objective Relationship continuity/discontinuity refers to whether a spouse/partner experiences their current relationship with someone with an acquired brain injury (ABI) as a continuation of their loving pre-injury relationship or as radically changed. The aim of this study was to adapt a questionnaire measure of continuity/discontinuity from dementia research for use in an ABI context and to evaluate the psychometric properties of this adaptation. Method The questionnaire was adapted in response to feedback from a focus group of ABI caregivers. Its psychometric properties were then evaluated in two studies involving partners of people with ABI. Results The measure showed high internal consistency (alpha = .956 in Study 1 and .963 in Study 2), test-retest reliability (intra-class correlation = .960 in Study 1) and discriminative power (Ferguson's delta = .975 in Study 1 and .963 in Study 2). Evidence of construct validity was provided by a predicted pattern of correlations with other relationship questionnaires. Exploratory factor analysis suggested that the questionnaire is unidimensional. Discussion A valid and reliable quantitative measure of relationship continuity/discontinuity will enable more robust evaluation of suggestions about this construct that have been made in qualitative studies (e.g. that discontinuity is associated with a greater sense of caregiver burden).
目的 关系连续性/非连续性是指配偶/伴侣是否将当前与脑损伤后患者的关系视为对其受伤前爱的关系的延续，还是视为发生了根本改变。本研究旨在改编自痴呆症研究的连续性/非连续性问卷测量工具，用于脑损伤背景，并评估这种改编的心理测量特性。 方法 该问卷根据脑损伤护理人员焦点小组的反馈进行了改编。然后，在两项涉及脑损伤患者伴侣的研究中评估了该问卷的心理测量特性。 结果 该测量工具具有较高的内部一致性（研究 1 中的 alpha 值为.956，研究 2 中的 alpha 值为.963）、重测信度（研究 1 中的组内相关系数为.960）和区分能力（研究 1 中的弗格森 delta 值为.975，研究 2 中的弗格森 delta 值为.963）。与其他关系问卷的预测相关性提供了结构有效性的证据。探索性因子分析表明，该问卷具有单一维度。 讨论 一种有效的、可靠的关系连续性/非连续性定量测量工具将能够更有力地评估定性研究中提出的关于这一结构的建议（例如，非连续性与更大的护理负担感有关）。
