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RehabMeasures Instrument

Stoke Mandeville Spinal Needs Assessment Checklist - Adult

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Purpose

The Stoke Mandeville Spinal Needs Assessment Checklist (SMS-NAC) is a rehabilitation outcome measure that assesses patient attainment of changes in rehabilitation outcomes through self-rating of perceived physical and/or verbal independence (also known as verbally instruction). This measure is used specifically for patients with a spinal cord injury or disorder (SCI/D). The SMS-NAC is completed with the patient by a member of the multidisciplinary team following mobilization/admission and prior to discharge. The SMS-NAC can be used to identify the patient’s current level of physical/verbal independence, as well as identifying specific targets for rehabilitation goals. 

For further information on the theoretical background of the SMS-NAC and associated goal planning program, please contact bht.nsicpsychology@nhs.net for further information.

 

Link to Instrument

Instrument Details

Acronym SMS-NAC

Area of Assessment

Activities & Participation
General Health & Development
Bodily Functions
Mental Functions
Movement

Assessment Type

Patient Reported Outcomes

Administration Mode

Paper & Pencil

Cost

Free

Cost Description

The SMS-NAC is free to use. Please contact bht.nsicpsychology@nhs.net for agreement to obtain permission to use.

CDE Status

Not a CDE—last searched June 2025.

Diagnosis/Conditions

  • Spinal Cord Injury

Key Descriptions

  • The Stoke Mandeville Spinal Needs Assessment Checklist (SMS-NAC) consists of ten rehabilitation domains, each with specific indicators:

    DOMAIN (# of indicators/Minimum score/Maximum score)
    1. Physical Healthcare (56/0/172)
    2. Daily Living Activities (24/0/72)
    3. Skin and Posture Management (26/0/78)
    4. Bladder Management (27/0/81)
    5. Bowel Management (13/0/39)
    6. Mobility (21/0/63)
    7. Wheelchair and Equipment (60/0/138)
    8. Community Preparation (33/0/84)
    9. Psychological Health (35/0/117)
    10. Discharge Coordination (36/0/108)
    TOTAL (331/0/952)
  • The scores for each domain are derived by summing the sub-scale item indicators. All items are scored from 0 to 3, with higher scores indicating full physical/verbal independence in or knowledge of that task. Not applicable is used depending on the level of injury e.g. autonomic dysreflexia. The items that are non-applicable are scored as ‘3’ or fully independent so that all patients can score fully despite differences in injury aetiology. From the summed sub-scales, a ‘percentage achieved’ is calculated for each of the ten domains ranging from 0-100% with higher scores indicating a greater level of physical/verbal independence.
  • Items in each section of the SMS-NAC are hierarchical, so that behavioral items that come first in the section will usually be the areas in which the first rehabilitation goals need to be set, e.g. bed to wheelchair transfers before car transfers.
  • Unlike other rehabilitation outcome measures for people with SCI/D, the SMS-NAC can be scored in relation to physical or verbal ability, enabling patients to achieve full independence irrespective of the severity of their injury and therefore demonstrate for services outcome for people with higher injuries and parity of rehabilitation provision (Wallace, Duff & Grant, 2023).
  • Following contacting bht.nsicpsychology@nhs.net and signing a license agreement for using the SMS-NAC, a pack containing additional associated documentation is provided. This includes a ‘Manual’ and ‘Information for Use Guide’ containing background on the SMS-NAC and administration instructions. Additionally, a scoring tool is provided which enables the answers to be automatically scored and a graph displaying the ‘percentage achieved’ for each domain is created.
  • The percentage achieved scores are used in Goal Planning Meetings to establish rehabilitation goals that include explicit behavioral targets.

Number of Items

372 (Depending on the level of injury, not all items are administered--these are clearly indicated on the SMS-NAC)

Time to Administer

60 minutes

Required Training

Reading an Article/Manual

Required Training Description

Following contacting bht.nsicpsychology@nhs.net and signing a license agreement for using the SMS-NAC, a pack containing additional associated documentation is provided. This includes a ‘Manual’ and ‘Information for Use Guide’ containing background on the SMS-NAC and administration instructions.

A YouTube video should be accessed before completing an SMS-NAC for the first time as it provides context on the SMS-NAC and associated goal planning program. YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPt7cvqzSKk

However, the National Spinal Injuries Centre (NSIC) runs an optional one-day training course on the SMS-NAC and goal planning program. In addition to specific training on administering the SMS-NAC, training on the rehabilitation process and how to set specific, achievable goals based on an individual’s strengths and needs is provided. If you are interested in attending this training, please contact the NSIC psychology service at bht.nsicpsychology@nhs.net.

Age Ranges

Adult

18 - 64

years

Elderly Adult

65 +

years

Instrument Reviewers

Initially reviewed by the Rehabilitation Measures Team; Updated by Jennifer Kahn, PT, DPT, NCS, Candy Tefertiller, PT, DPT ATP, NCS, and SCI EDGE task force of the Neurology Section of the APTA in 2012. Updated in August 2025 by Amy Black, Dept. of Clinical Psychology, National Spinal Injuries Centre, Stoke Mandeville Hospital, UK.

ICF Domain

Body Function
Activity
Participation

Measurement Domain

Activities of Daily Living
Motor
Sensory
Emotion
General Health

Professional Association Recommendation

Recommendations for use of the instrument from the Neurology Section of the American Physical Therapy Association’s Multiple Sclerosis Taskforce (MSEDGE), Parkinson’s Taskforce (PD EDGE), Spinal Cord Injury Taskforce (PD EDGE), Stroke Taskforce (StrokEDGE), Traumatic Brain Injury Taskforce (TBI EDGE), and Vestibular Taskforce (Vestibular EDGE) are listed below. These recommendations were developed by a panel of research and clinical experts using a modified Delphi process.

For detailed information about how recommendations were made, please visit:  ANPT Outcome Measures Recommendations (EDGE)

 

Abbreviations:

 

HR

Highly Recommend

R

Recommend

LS / UR

Reasonable to use, but limited study in target group  / Unable to Recommend

NR

Not Recommended

 

Recommendations for use based on acuity level of the patient:

 

Acute

(CVA < 2 months post)

(SCI < 1 month post) 

(Vestibular < 6 weeks post)

Subacute

(CVA 2 to 6 months)

(SCI 3 to 6 months)

Chronic

(> 6 months)

SCI EDGE

R

R

LS

 

Recommendations based on SCI AIS Classification: 

 

AIS A/B

AIS C/D

SCI EDGE

R

R

 

  

Recommendations for entry-level physical therapy education and use in research:

 

Students should learn to administer this tool? (Y/N)

Students should be exposed to tool? (Y/N)

Appropriate for use in intervention research studies? (Y/N)

Is additional research warranted for this tool (Y/N)

SCI EDGE

No

No

No

Not reported

Considerations

  • The SMS-NAC should be completed with the patient by a member of the multidisciplinary team. It should not be given to the patient to complete independently without staff support.
  • SMS-NAC is a measure of an individual’s perceptions of their own independence and may be subjective and influenced by other factors.
  • SMS-NAC assesses both verbal and physical independence, so individuals have potential to reach 100% on all subscales.
  • The Professional Association Recommendations in this summary are based upon the older version of the SMS-NAC, which was since updated in 2020.
  • The Child Needs Assessment Checklist (ChNAC) is also available (see Webster & Kennedy, 2007; for more information), to obtain a copy please also contact bht.nsicpsychology@nhs.net to obtain a user agreement.
  • The SMS-NAC is a rehabilitation outcome measure that is used globally including SCI/D providers within India, Peru, the UK, Venezuela and Australia (Duff, Grant, Gilchrist, & Jones, 2022). There are over 30 publications using the SMS-NAC relating to rehabilitation outcomes, injury aetiology, mental health outcomes, and reliability and validity studies. A list of these publications can be accessed on the google drive (QR code below). 

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Do you see an error or have a suggestion for this instrument summary? Please e-mail us!

Spinal Cord Injuries

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Normative Data

Subacute, Chronic SCI/D: (Eaton et al., 2022; n = 195, mean age at injury = 53 (17.5) years, age range = 15.3 – 88.0 years, male = 139 (71%), injury level: complete tetraplegia (26%), complete paraplegia (40%), all levels incomplete (34%)).

Mean (SD) Scores at Admission and Discharge for SMS-NAC Domains by Injury Level

 

SMS-NAC Domains

Complete Tetraplegia

Complete Paraplegia

All levels incomplete

Physical Health

   Admission

54.63 (13.9)

74.25 (15.3)

70.09 (15.2)

   Discharge

80.20 (14.1)

87.62 (12.3)

87.67 (11.9)

ADL

   Admission

47.63 (29.0)

75.19 (16.3)

66.67 (24.8)

   Discharge

76.76 (20.9)

95.45 (6.68)

89.58 (12.0)

Skin and Posture Mgt.

   Admission

41.75 (21.5)

51.61 (24.2)

65.28 (24.1)

   Discharge

87.37 (13.7)

90.01 (12.2)

93.43 (8.22)

Bladder Management

   Admission

49.67 (16.6)

57.12 (19.3)

69.67 (18.8)

   Discharge

79.02 (15.3)

84.17 (12.2)

88.09 (9.05)

Bowel Management

   Admission

23.00 (22.3)

38.42 (32.0)

67.40 (31.0)

   Discharge

71.00 (26.5)

80.21 (22.3)

88.16 (17.7)

Mobility

   Admission

43.71 (19.4)

45.97 (16.2)

44.85 (25.8)

   Discharge

76.49 (17.2)

77.22 (14.5)

80.76 (16.7)

Wheelchair & equipment

   Admission

33.29 (19.1)

46.26 (19.6)

70.06 (20.4)

   Discharge

70.06 (20.4)

80.31 (16.5)

83.75 (17.7)

Community preparation

   Admission

31.27 (11.2)

38.9   (15.0)

38.46 (15.5)

   Discharge

66.24 (14.9)

74.08 (13.5)

70.21 (13.5)

Psychological Health

   Admission

59.76 (13.2)

64.64 (13.9)

66.90 (13.9)

   Discharge

66.90 (16.5)

74.18 (14.6)

74.10 (16.7)

Discharge Coordination

   Admission

24.35 (15.8)

34.78 (17.9)

41.60 (23.6)

   Discharge

58.94 (19.8)

67.49 (19.8)

70.87 (18.5)

Concurrent Measure – Spinal Cord Injury Measure (SCIM)

Self-care

   Admission

2.41   (3.87)

12.19 (4.26)

10.79 (6.00)

   Discharge

6.12 (6.09)

16.71 (3.64)

16.16 (4.87)

Respiration & Sphincter Management

   Admission

11.49 (4.03)

17.97 (7.83)

24.66 (10.5)

   Discharge

16.96 (8.34)

29.86 (8.41)

32.13 (9.50)

Mobility (room & toilet)

   Admission

0.45 (1.25)

3.66 (3.00)

5.52 (3.34)

   Discharge

2.63 (3.45)

7.96 (2.66)

8.72 (2.03)

Mobility (indoors & outdoors)

   Admission

1.49 (2.09)

5.06 (1.92)

7.87 (6.99)

   Discharge

4.86 (4.61)

8.44 (4.36)

14.22 (7.65)

Total

 

 

 

   Admission

1.49 (2.09)

5.06 (1.92)

7.87 (6.99)

   Discharge

4.86 (4.61)

8.44 (4.36)

14.22 (7.65)

 

 

Subacute, Chronic SCI/D: (Berry & Kennedy, 2003; n = 43, mean age = 42.19 (14.6) years, male = 38 (88%), injury level: complete tetraplegia (13.9%), incomplete tetraplegia (37.2%), complete paraplegia (23.3%, incomplete paraplegia (25.6%)).

NAC Means (SD)

Subscale

Number of items

Scale mean

Scale SD

α

ADL

29

59.07

25.88

0.9697

Skin Management

14

25.67

10.54

0.8830

Bladder Management

10

22.81

7.23

0.8356

Bowel Management

7

13.91

6.27

0.8097

Mobility

17

24.28

13.30

0.8729

Wheelchair and Equipment

33

46.09

27.27

0.9527

Community Preparation

24

39.28

12.73

0.7805

Discharge Coordination

32

47.86

25.52

0.9251

Psychological Health

19

45.49

7.99

0.7347

 

Concurrent Measures

SCIM (Self-Care)

6

12.63

7.61

0.9608

SCIM (Respiration and Sphincter Management)

4

23.84

10.60

0.6454

SCIM (Mobility)

8

14.02

11.21

0.9288

SCIM (Full-Scale Score)

18

50.49

26.91

0.9227

HADS (Anxiety)

7

5.14

4.32

0.8463

HADS (Depression)

7

5.51

4.17

0.8122

 

 

Test/Retest Reliability

Subacute, Chronic SCI/D: (Berry & Kennedy, 2003; mean interval between tests = 7.2 (2.88) days, compared by correlating clinical NAC subscale scores with test-retest NAC subscale scores).

  • Acceptable to Excellent test-retest reliability for all NAC subscales except for Bladder Management

Test-retest reliability of NAC subscales (Pearson’s r  correlations)

NAC Subscale

r value

ADL

0.884

Skin Management

0.904

Bladder Management

0.694

Bowel Management

0.783

Mobility

0.883

Wheelchair and Equipment

0.883

Community Preparation

0.830

Discharge Coordination

0.805

Psychological Health

0.748

All correlations significant at 0.01 level (two-tailed)

 

Internal Consistency

Subacute, Chronic SCI/D:  (Berry & Kennedy, 2003; n = 43, complete tetraplegia (13.9%), incomplete tetraplegia (37.2%), complete paraplegia (23.3%, incomplete paraplegia (25.6%)).

Acute SCI/D: (Kennedy et al., 2003; n = 192, mean age = 40.7 (16.5) years, male = 147 (77%), injury level (of 173 for whom data was available): complete tetraplegia (21%), incomplete tetraplegia (23%), complete paraplegia (34%), and incomplete paraplegia (22%)).

NAC Subscale

Berry & Kennedy, 2003 - α

Kennedy et al., 2003 – α

Across all subscales

Excellent  0.8587

Excellent 0.8306

ADL

Excellent 0.9697

Excellent 0.9467

Skin Management

Excellent 0.8830

Excellent 0.8478

Bladder Management

Excellent 0.8356

Adequate 0.7753

Bowel Management

Excellent 0.8097

Excellent 0.8741

Mobility

Excellent 0.8729

Excellent 0.8358

Wheelchair and Equipment

Excellent 0.9527

Excellent 0.9239

Community Preparation

Adequate 0.7805

Adequate 0.7146

Discharge Coordination

Excellent 0.9251

Excellent 0.8855

Psychological Health

Adequate 0.7347

Poor 0.6729

 

Criterion Validity (Predictive/Concurrent)

Concurrent validity:

Subacute, Chronic SCI/D: (Berry & Kennedy, 2003)

  • Adequate to Excellent correlations between NAC subscales, the SCIM, and the HADS

Pearson’s correlations between NAC subscales, the SCIM, and the HADS

Subscale

SCIM (Self-care)

SCIM (Respiration and Sphincter Management)

SCIM (Mobility)

SCIM (Full Scale)

HADS (Anxiety)

HADS (Depression)

HADS (Combined scales)

ADL

0.850

 

 

0.783

 

 

 

Bladder and Bowel Management (combined scales)

 

0.681

 

0.754

 

 

 

Mobility

 

 

0.691

0.696

 

 

 

Psychological Issues (mood subsection)

 

 

 

 

-0.709

-0.633

-0.726

Psychological Issues (Full-Scale)

 

 

 

 

-0.501

-0.466

-0.523

All correlations are significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed)

SCIM = The Spinal Cord Independence Measure

HADS = Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale

 

 

Bibliography

Berry, C. and Kennedy, P. (2003). A psychometric analysis of the Needs Assessment Checklist (NAC). Spinal Cord 41(9): 490-501. Find it on PubMed

Duff, J., Evans, M. J., & Kennedy, P. (2004). Goal planning: a retrospective audit of rehabilitation process and outcome. Clinical Rehabilitation 18(3): 275-286. Find it on PubMed

Duff, J., Grant, L. C., Gilchrist, H., & Jones, K. (2022). Building and sustaining inpatient-clinician collaboration in spinal cord injury rehabilitation: A case example using the Stoke Mandeville Spinal Needs Assessment Checklist (SMS-NAC) and goal planning program. Journal of Clinical Medicine11(13), 3730.  https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11133730

Eaton, R., Duff, J., Wallace, M., & Jones, K. (2022). The value of the whole picture: rehabilitation outcome measurement using patient self-report and clinician-based assessments after spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord60(1), 71-80.  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41393-021-00677-7

Kennedy, P., Evans, M. J., Berry, C., & Mullin, J. (2003). Comparative analysis of goal achievement during rehabilitation for older and younger adults with spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord 41(1): 44-52. Find it on PubMed

Kennedy, P. and Hamilton, L. R. (1999). "The needs assessment checklist: a clinical approach to measuring outcome." Spinal Cord 37(2): 136-139. Find it on PubMed

Wallace, M., Duff, J., & Grant, L. C. (2023). The influence of psychological need on rehabilitation outcomes for people with spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord61(1), 83-92.  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41393-022-00864-0

Webster, G. and Kennedy, P. (2007). Addressing children's needs and evaluating rehabilitation outcome after spinal cord injury: the child needs assessment checklist and goal-planning program. J Spinal Cord Med 30 Suppl 1: S140-145. Find it on PubMed