Short form of the Social Rhythm Metric: a tool to evaluate the social and functional impact on stroke patients

Purpose Social Rhythm Metric (SRM) is a self-administered instrument to specifically measure the regularity of the occurrence of several daily activities. This study aimed to establish a short form of the SRM to assess the social rhythm of stroke patients. Methods The sample consisted of 84 patients, mean age 60 years (± 10), and injury time of 19 months (± 22). For seven consecutive days, patients recorded the time of day at which all 17 SRM activities were performed. Data analysis was conducted using factor analysis. Results SRM activities were distributed in three forms: the first and second involving 6 activities and a third form with 3 activities. The first form consisted of the following activities: get out of bed, first contact with a person, morning beverage, breakfast, evening TV news program and bedtime; and obtained the highest ALI (Activity Level Index) and SRM scores (29 and 6, respectively). When confirmatory factorial analysis was performed, there was an improvement in the goodness-of-fit statistics only for the first short form of SRM: χ 2 / df value was below 3; RMSEA and values of CFI and TLI increased greatly, reaching approximately the appropriate values for the model adjustment (RMSEA = 0.08, CFI = 0.92 and TLI = 0.81). Conclusions The first form was considered the appropriate short form to assess SRM in stroke patients. This instrument may be useful in neurological rehabilitation and evaluating the social and functional impact of this disease.