. 2014 Mar;37(2):128–138. doi: 10.1179/2045772313Y.0000000159

Table 3 .

Details of modifications made to standardized Short Form health surveys

Modification (with reference(s))	Description
‘Enabled’ SF-36 (Froehlich-Grobe et al., 2008³⁶; Nanda et al., 2003³⁷; Rowell and Connelly, 2008³⁸; Rowell and Connelly, 2010³⁹; Unalan et al., 2007⁴⁰)	Froehlich-Grobe and colleagues used the enabled physical functioning items, as proposed by Meyers and Andresen, and also made additional changes. The instructions for the physical functioning section were modified in a manner that guided respondents to report on their physical functioning while using assistive devices; ‘The following items are about activities you might do during a typical day using your normal assistive devices (wheelchair/cane/prosthetic).’ A final modification changed the activities listed under item 3 (vigorous activities)
	Nanda and colleagues administered the enabled version as described by Meyers and Andresen
	Rowell and Connelly (2008, 2010),^38,39 and Unalan et al. (2007)⁴⁰ administered the conventional SF-36 and the five enabled physical functioning items. No changes were made to the ordering of items to reflect increasing distances
SF-36 Walk-Wheel (Lee et al., 2009²⁸; De Wolf et al., 2012⁴¹)	Lee and colleagues developed the SF-36 Walk-Wheel (SF-36WW), a health survey administered as a 39-item instrument, comprising the 36 standardized items and three additional questions. The three additional items are exactly the same as items 9, 10 and 11, except with the replacement of the word ‘walk’ with the word ‘wheel’
	De Wolf and colleagues used the SF-36WW in their psychometric evaluation of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Scale II (WHO-DAS II) in the context of SCI
Modification 3 (Dudley-Javoroski and Shields, 2006⁴²; Mueller et al., 2012⁴³)	Dudley-Javoroski and Shields adapted both physical functioning items to ‘improve the sensitivity and appropriateness of the SF-12 for a population with complete SCI’; the standard 12 items and the amended two items were administered (i.e. 14 items in total). The purpose of these changes was to gauge respondents’ ability to perform wheelchair-specific functional tasks. Both changes related to the description of activities; ‘…moving a table, pushing a vacuum cleaner, bowling, or playing golf’ was changed to ‘…using your wheelchair around your home’, and ‘Climbing several flights of stairs’ was changed to ‘Going rapidly in your wheelchair for several blocks’
	Mueller and colleagues used the same amended version in a randomized controlled trial
Modification 4 (Litchke et al., 2012⁴⁴)	Litchke and colleagues amended text in the physical functioning items of the SF-36; these changes were different to those of Dudley-Javoroski and Shields. Although the exact changes are not discernible from the paper alone, the authors describe them as, ‘For example ‘climbing stairs or walking more than a mile’ was changed to ‘propelling up a steep ramp or pushing more than a mile.’
Modification 5 (Luther et al., 2006⁴⁵)	The objective of this study was to revise items of the VR-36 physical functioning scale to be more appropriate for use with people with SCI. The result was a set of 8 items that were considerably different from the original items
Modification 6 (Kalpakjian et al., 2007⁴⁶)	Text for both items of the SF-12 physical functioning scale were amended; ‘…moving a table, pushing a vacuum cleaner, bowling, or playing golf’ was changed to ‘…pushing a vacuum cleaner, or climbing 1 flight of stairs/ramp’, and ‘Climbing several flights of stairs’ was changed to ‘Climbing several flights of stairs/ramps’