The Needs Assessment Checklist (NAC) is an interview-based assessment, measuring patient perception of independence in a range of tasks from 9 SCI-specific rehabilitation domains: activities of daily living (ADL, 29 items), skin management (14 items), bladder management (10), bowel management (7), mobility (17), wheelchair and equipment (33), community preparation (24), discharge coordination (32) and psychological issues (19).

ICF Domain

Activities ▶ Self Care

Administration

Scores are derived by summing sub-scale items; a “percentage achieved” is also calculated for each of the 9 sub-scale’s ranging from 0-100% with higher scores indicating greater independence.

Equipment

None

Number of Items

199 Items

Languages

English

Training Required

N/A

Availability

Click here.

# of studies reporting psychometric properties: 2

Interpretability

MCID: not established in SCI
SEM: not established in SCI
MDC: not established in SCI

Reliability

  • Test-retest reliability of the COPM is Low to High overall (alpha = 0.8238) and for the subscales (alpha = 0.694-0.904).
  • Internal consistency of the COPM is Low to High overall (alpha = 0.83) and for the subscales (alpha = 0.6729-0.9467).

(Kennedy et al. 2003; Berry and Kennedy 2002)

Validity

  • There is High correlation between the NAC ADL with SCIM-II (r = 0.873), the NAC Bladder & Bowel with SCIM-II (r = 0.754), and the NAC Mobility with SCIM-II (r = 0.696).
  • There is High correlation between the NAC psychological issues (mood subsection) with HADS (r = -0.726).
  • There is Moderate to High correlation between the NAC psychological issues (full subscale) with HADS (r = -0.523).

(Berry and Kennedy 2002)

Responsiveness

No values were reported for the responsiveness of the NAC for the SCI population at this time.

Floor/Ceiling Effect

No values were reported for the presence of floor/ceiling effects in the NAC for the SCI population.

Reviewers

Dr. Janice Eng, John Zhu, Bryce Jay

Date Last Updated

3 August 2020

Berry C, Kennedy P. A psychometric analysis of the Needs Assessment Checklist (NAC). Spinal Cord. 2003;41(9):490-501.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12934089

Kennedy P, Evans MJ, Berry C, Mullin J. Comparative analysis of goal achievement during rehabilitation for older and younger adults with spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord. 2003;41(1):44-52.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12494320