Methodological Approach to Identifying Outcome Measures in Spinal Cord Injury

Measuring health status and health interventions is fundamental to guarantee the quality of services and good health for all. In the spinal cord injury (SCI) population, many outcome measures are used. However, at the international level, there is a lack of standardized and comparable measures resulting in outcome measures of poor or of unknown quality, which constitutes a waste of resources and, of course, is unethical. The present chapter describes the methodological approach to identifying outcome measures in spinal cord injury (SCI). For the present systematic review, four databases, namely MEDLINE, SCOPUS, CINAHL, and WEB OF SCIENCES, were used. After removing duplicates, 3333 papers were screened. Of these, 476 were included in this systematic review. Results show 298 assessment tools that evaluate people with SCI. Articles were then summarized according to the area of competence: Neurological Status, Psychological evaluation, Quality of Life, activity of daily living, upper Limb Function, urological aspects, assistive devices management, walking and balance, pediatrics, caregiving, nursing, and clinical evaluation.