Background: The World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) provides a standardized assessment of functioning and disability in individuals with any kind of disease. So far, data on feasibility and psychometric properties of the 12-item WHODAS 2.0 in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are not available. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate feasibility and psychometric properties of this questionnaire in a population-based sample of persons with AMI. Methods: The sample consisted of 2077 persons (age 35-85 years) with AMI from the population-based MONICA/KORA Myocardial Infarction Registry, Augsburg, Germany, who responded to a postal follow-up survey in 2011. Feasibility was assessed by the number of missing WHODAS 2.0 items and analyzed using multivariate logistic regression modeling. Psychometric properties were determined using Rasch analysis. It included testing of unidimensionality, monotonicity and local independency, Partial Credit Model (PCM) fitting, and testing for Differential Item Functioning (DIF). Concurrent validity was tested by a linear additive model predicting the WHODAS disability score based on a number of independent variables.

The study reveals that some DASH items do not fit the underlying trait that the DASH aims to measure. Further studies using Rasch analysis are needed to compare our findings with results of studies involving other target groups (e.g. patients with injuries of the upper arm and shoulder).

There are a multitude of different rehabilitation interventions for individuals with disorders of consciousness, which are established in clinical practice and supported by expert opinion. However, evidence regarding these interventions is weak and recommendations are strictly limited. The findings of this review may represent a basis for further research.

BackgroundA multitude of different rehabilitation interventions and other specific health care services are offered for individuals with disorders of consciousness in long-term care settings. To investigate the association of those services and patient-relevant outcomes, a specific instrument to document the utilization of those services is needed. The purpose of this study was to develop such a questionnaire administered to caregivers in epidemiological studies or patient registries in Germany.MethodsThe development process of the RECAPDOC questionnaire was carried out in three steps. Step 1 consisted of a systematic literature review and an online-based expert survey to define the general content. Step 2 was an expert interview to evaluate the preliminary content of the questionnaire. Step 3 was a pretest including cognitive interviews with caregivers. After each step, the results were combined into a new version of the questionnaire.ResultsThe first version of the questionnaire included items on utilization of medical care, medical aids, nursing and therapeutic care. The results of the expert interview led to the integration of five new items and the modification of six other items. The pretest led to some minor modifications of the questionnaire since it was rated as feasible and acceptable. The final questionnaire consisted of 29 items covering the domains “living situation”, “social insurance status”, “utilisation of home health care”, “domestic services”, “outpatient health care”, “specific diagnostic measures”, “adaptive technologies”, “medical aids” and “utilization of therapies”. Also the experience of family support and multidisciplinary collaboration of health professionals is covered.ConclusionsThe developed questionnaire is a first step to make the situation of patients with disorders of consciousness in the long-term care setting accessible for evaluation in epidemiological studies and in the context of patient registries. However, further reliability and validity studies are needed.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12913-018-3153-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.