Validation of the Quality of
Life After Brain Injury in
Chinese Persons With
Traumatic Brain Injury in
Taiwan
Yen-Nung Lin, MD, MS; Shu-Fen Chu, MS; Miin Liang, PhD;
Wen-Ta Chiu, MD, PhD; Mau-Roung Lin, PhD
Objective: To determine the psychometric properties of the Quality of Life after Brain
Injury (QOLIBRI) in Chinese persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Taiwan.
Participants: Three hundred one patients with TBI were interviewed face-to-face at
baseline; of these, 132 completed a follow-up assessment 1 year later.
Settings: Neurosurgery clinics of 6 teaching hospitals in northern Taiwan.
Measure: The 37-item QOLIBRI, including 6 domains of Cognition, Self, Daily Life and
Autonomy, Social Relationships, Emotions, and Physical Problems.
Results: A small percentage (<1%) of responses were missing, except the Sex Life item
under the Social domain (5.9%). The QOLIBRI achieved adequate percentages for the floor value (0%-4%), ceiling value (1%-3.3%), internal consistency (0.79-0.95), and test-retest reliability (0.81-0.89). For construct validity, correlation coefficients (rs) for the QOLIBRI
domains and selected clinical measures conceptually related to that domain were all 0.4 or more, except rs for QOLIBRI Cognition and Mini-Mental State Examination scores. A
principal components analysis found that one item (Loneliness) of the Emotions domain did not converge with its corresponding domain of the original QOLIBRI (loading score <0.4). Effect sizes of responsiveness to changes in the Glasgow Outcome Scale—Extended over the 1-year period were clinically meaningful for all the QOLIBRI domains except the Emotions domain. Conclusion: With modifications to the Emotions domain, the QOLIBRI would be suitable for use with Chinese people in Taiwan who have TBI. Key words:
