Center for Outcome Measurement in Brain Injury: An accessible, cost-effective, web-based resource for reliable and valid measures

With an amplified need for ongoing accreditation and evidence-based medicine and rehabilitation after disability, an increased call for rigor in research, and mounting costs of clinical trial research, affordable, reliable and valid measurement of outcomes is paramount. Many clinicians and researchers have developed home-grown tools to meet an immediate need. However, many have not been psychometrically tested and also duplicate already existing reliable and valid measures. In order to avoid duplication of effort and to help disseminate reliable and valid measures of outcomes following brain injury, the Center for Outcome Measurement in Brain Injury (COMBI) was developed. The COMBI is a web-based collaborative project of 16 brain injury facilities or centers, most of them Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems. The COMBI currently provides comprehensive information on 31 outcome measures used in acute care, rehabilitation, and community-based settings following brain injury. For each supported measure there is syllabus and training information, rating forms, background information on validity and reliability, a reference list of published studies, testing materials and ongoing training and testing. The COMBI has implications to a broad-based national and international audience. Recent review has shown that the COMBI serves more than 1000 visitors per day and that an average of 230-PDF versions of instruments are downloaded each day. Effectiveness of the COMBI is also analyzed and will be presented. The COMBI will continue to add measures and serve as a resource to the acute, rehabilitation, and community-based providers of brain injury services. Additional disability-specific outcomes measurement resources are planned.