The community integration questionnaire. A comparative examination.

The community integration questionnaire (CIQ) was designed to assess home integration, social integration and productive activity in persons with acquired brain injury. The instrument consists of 15 items and can be completed by self report or with the assistance of a family member or caregiver familiar with the person's health status and social activities. Previous research has demonstrated adequate test-retest reliability and internal consistency. This study was designed to examine further, the psychometric characteristics of the CIQ and begin the process of establishing the instrument's validity. The CIQ was administered to 341 persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and 210 persons without TBI or any other apparent disabilities. The results indicate that the total scores are normally distributed for both persons with and without TBI. A statistically significant difference (P < 0.01) was found between subjects with TBI and those without TBI for all three subscales of the CIQ and for total scores. Data analysis also revealed that the total CIQ scores statistically differentiated among subjects with TBI living in three different settings: (1) living independently; (2) living in a supported community situation and (3) living in an institution. Intercorrelations among the three subscales (home, social and productivity) demonstrated that the CIQ provides unique information in the assessment of community integration for persons with TBI. Areas of future research necessary to expand the research and program evaluation usefulness of the CIQ are identified.