The Italian version of the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust (BIRT) personality questionnaires: five new measures of personality change after acquired brain injury

Abstract

The aim of this study was to describe the translation and adaptation of the BIRT personality questionnaires for the Italian population. This included the replication of validity testing and the collection of normative data. Following translation and adaptation according to cross-cultural guidelines, the questionnaires were administered as a pre-test to a sample of 20 healthy subjects and then to 10 patients. The questionnaires were then administered to 120 healthy subjects equally distributed by sex, education, and age, to collect normative data from an Italian population. The questionnaires were easily administered to both healthy subjects and patients. Statistical analysis on normative data was conducted to find the mean value for each questionnaire. This study lays the foundations for using a new instrument to assess behavioral changes after acquired brain injury on the Italian population.

’Less is more’: validation with Rasch analysis of five short-forms for the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust Personality Questionnaires (BIRT-PQs)

“…Higher total scores indicate higher degrees of neurobehavioral disability. The Italian versions of the BIRT-PQs (31)were administered to all patients and their caregivers before starting their physical therapy program.…”

Evidence-informed and consensus-based statements about SAFEty of Physical Agent Modalities Practice in physiotherapy and rehabilitation medicine (SAFE PAMP): a national Delphi of healthcare scientific societies

“…The steering committee involved 11 content experts from the Italian Association of Physiotherapy (Associazione Italiana di Fisioterapia (AIFI)), a member of the World Physiotherapy 20. AIFI is the scientific and technical society in Italy for the physiotherapy profession recognised by the Italian Minister of Health to produce clinical practice guidelines in the field 21 22…”

“…Thus, the steering committee invited all the national multidisciplinary and multiprofessional scientific and technical societies involved in physiotherapy and rehabilitation care (n=26) and the societies dealing with forensics (n=1). These societies were identified from the published endorsed by the Italian Ministry of Health and are recognised as the ones entitled to generate national clinical practice guidelines 21 22. Each society delegated their most representative member involved in physiotherapy and rehabilitation care to join the panel of experts.…”

The unidimensionality of the five Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust Personality Questionnaires (BIRT-PQs) may be improved: preliminary evidence from classical psychometrics

“…As each scale has a different number of item, the total score varies by questionnaire: BMQ ranges from 34 to 136 points, BREQ and BIQ from 32 to 128, BSCQ from 28 to 112, and BDQ from 24 to 96. Within this study, the Italian version of the BIRT-PQs was administered (24).…”

“…In a series of studies, Cattran and colleagues (8,(21)(22)(23)) introduced a specific set of scales designed to assess noncognitive neurobehavioral impairments for patients with ABI, recently translated and cross-culturally adapted for the Italian population (24). The five Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust personality questionnaires (henceforth BIRT-PQs) consist of five separated scales (totaling 150 items) assessing the following areas: motivation, emotional regulation, social cognition, disinhibition, and impulsivity.…”