The Stanmore Nursing Assessment of Psychological Status: Understanding the emotions of patients with spinal cord injury

Context: Research has shown that individuals who have sustained a spinal cord injury can experience strong and abrupt variations in their emotional state; however no instrument for nurses has been developed to assess these patients' psychological status. Objective: To develop a brief, reliable instrument to enable nurses to accurately assess, record and respond to spinal cord injury patients' psychological status. Methods: In Phase 1, semi-structured interviews were conducted with spinal cord injury patients (n = 10) and nurses (n = 10) which were audio recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed to develop the instrument. The instrument's content validity was then ensured via independent expert review. In Phase 2, the instrument was trialled on 80 spinal cord injury patients to determine inter-rater reliability, internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Results: In Phase 1, four core themes (emotional impact, coping, relationships and assessment) were identified together with a number of related sub-themes. In Phase 2, the instrument was shown to have excellent inter-rater reliability, acceptable internal consistency and satisfactory test re-test reliability. Subsequently a rating sheet, user manual and prompt card were produced. Conclusion: The new instrument, the Stanmore Nursing Assessment of Psychological Status, was shown to be valid and reliable. It is anticipated that training nurses to use this instrument may help to enhance good emotional care of patients.