Development of the Spanish version of the Spinal Cord Independence Measure version III: cross-cultural adaptation and reliability and validity study

Purpose: To provide a translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Spinal Cord Independence Measure (SCIM) version III for Spain and to validate the Spanish version of the SCIM III (eSCIM III). Patients and methods: Development of eSCIM III has involved translation, back-translation and assessment of cultural equivalence procedures. eSCIM version III, was administered to 64 patients with spinal cord injury, admitted to our hospital. Investigation of the psychometric characteristics included: (1) study of the inter-rater reliability, (2) internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), (3) validation and confirmation of the correlation between eSCIM III and Functional Independence Measure (FIM), and (4) sensitivity to change. Results: The reliability of eSCIM III showed an intra-class coefficient value >0.97 in the different subscales assessed. Internal consistency of eSCIM III was shown by a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.93. The validity of eSCIM III was confirmed by the close correlation with FIM (r = 0.94, p<0.0001). The sensitivity to change of eSCIM III was also confirmed. Conclusions: eSCIM III was found to be culturally equivalent to the original version, as reliability and validity of this tool were demonstrated. It can be used in Spain for functional assessment of patients with spinal cord injury.