[French version of structured interviews for the Glasgow Outcome Scale: guidelines and first studies of validation]

Abstract

Objectives: The Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) is the most widely used outcome measure after traumatic brain injury. The GOS's reliability is improved by a structured interview. The two aims of this paper were to present a French version of the structured interview for the five-point Glasgow Outcome Scale and the extended eight-point GOS (GOSE) and to study their validity.

Methods: The French version was developed using back-translation. Concurrent validity was studied by comparison with GOS/GOSE without structured interview. Inter-rater reliability was studied by comparison between assignments made by untrained head injury observers and trained head injury observers. Strength of agreement between ratings was assessed using the Kappa statistic.

Results: The French version and the guidelines for their use are given in the Appendix. Ratings were made for 25 brain injured patients and 25 relatives. Concurrent validity was good and inter-rater reliability was excellent.

Conclusion: Using the structured interview for the GOS will give a more reliable assessment of the outcome of brain injured patients by French-speaking rehabilitation teams and a more precise assessment with the extended GOS.