Reliability of a new classification system for mobility and self-care in spinal cord injury rehabilitation: the Spinal Cord Injury-Interventions Classification System.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the reliability of the Dutch version of the Spinal Cord Injury-Interventions Classification System.

DESIGN: Descriptive study.

SETTING: Three Dutch spinal cord injury facilities.

PARTICIPANTS: Six physical therapists, 6 occupational therapists, and 3 sports therapists.

INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A 4- or 5-digit code was used to score videotaped interventions on 2 occasions in terms of level, category, and type of intervention. We examined the percentage of correctly assigned interventions (agreement between the researcher and the participants), agreement between the first and second measurements (intrarater reliability), and agreement between the therapists of the same discipline (interrater reliability).

RESULTS: A total of 252 interventions were assigned. The agreement between the researcher and the participants was good: the percentage of correct interventions was high at both measurements (91.7% and 94.4%). Intrarater agreement was also good (90.9%). The interrater agreement within the physical therapists and the occupational therapists was high at both occasions (mean, 92.3% and 87.0%, respectively), but lower within the sports therapists (mean, 69.3%).

CONCLUSIONS: The study provided first evidence for reliability of the classification system. Further research is needed to confirm these results and to test the reliability of other language versions.