Suitability of the Quality of Life after Brain Injury Instrument for Older People with Traumatic Brain Injury

We prospectively investigated the psychometric properties of the Quality of Life after Brain Injury (QOLIBRI) instrument among older patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). The 37-item QOLIBRI comprises six domains (cognition, self, daily life and autonomy, social relationships, emotions, and physical problems). We recruited 333 patients ≥60 years of age with TBI from the neurosurgery clinics and emergency departments of three hospitals in Taipei, Taiwan. The ceiling and floor values for most QOLIBRI domains were <5%, and the internal consistency and test-retest reliability ranged from 0.84 to 0.97 and 0.83 to 0.96, respectively. For the known-groups validity, patients with TBI attained lower scores for all QOLIBRI domains, except physical problems, compared with those with soft-tissue injuries. Patients with intact cognition who had higher levels on the Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended (GOSE) and the Glasgow Coma Scale, fewer limitations in activities of daily living, and fewer chronic conditions obtained higher scores for almost all the QOLIBRI domains, compared with their counterparts. For convergent validity, the correlation coefficients for the QOLIBRI domains and the selected functional measures conceptually related to that domain were all ≥0.4. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the original six-domain structure fit the data with a comparative fit index of ≥0.9. Effect sizes for changes in the GOSE over a 6-month follow-up period were clinically meaningful (≥ 0.2) for all the QOLIBRI domains except emotions. For older people with TBI, the use of the QOLIBRI is generally appropriate, and adding the domain of environment to the scale would be beneficial.