Use of the Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ) to characterize changes in functioning for individuals with traumatic brain injury who participated in a post-acute rehabilitation programme

Objective: Evaluate changes in community integration for survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI) who participated in a post-acute rehabilitation programme. Design: Cohort, prospective study investigating change from admission to post-discharge. Participants: Individuals, the majority of whom were diagnosed with severe TBI, were placed into one of two groups as follows: (1) admitted for treatment less than 1 year post-injury (L1Y) or (2) admitted for treatment between 1-5 years post-injury (G1Y). Measure: The Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ). Results: Both groups showed significant improvements from admission to follow-up; however, some CIQ findings were more pronounced for the L1Y group. Reliable change (RC) methodology was used to assess individual change. Results of this approach were consistent with group results, but tempered the perception of degree of change. Conclusions: Findings cannot simply be attributed to neurological recovery and individual factors are important to examine when assessing change.