Development of a Stroke-Specific Quality of Life Scale

Abstract

Background and Purpose-Clinical stroke trials are increasingly measuring patient-centered outcomes such as functional status and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). No stroke-specific HRQOL measure is currently available. This study presents the initial development of a valid, reliable, and responsive stroke-specific quality of life (SS-QOL) measure, for use in stroke trials. Methods-Domains and items for the SS-QOL were developed from patient interviews. The SS-QOL, Short Form 36, Beck Depression Inventory, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, and Barthel Index were administered to patients 1 and 3 months after ischemic stroke. Items were eliminated with the use of standard psychometric criteria. Construct validity was assessed by comparing domain scores with similar domains of established measures. Domain responsiveness was assessed with standardized effect sizes . Results-All 12 domains of the SS-QOL were unidimensional. In the final 49-item scale, all domains demonstrated excellent internal reliability (Cronbach's ␣ values for each domain Ն0.73). Most domains were moderately correlated with similar domains of established outcome measures (r 2 range, 0.3 to 0.5). Most domains were responsive to change (standardized effect sizes Ͼ0.4). One-and 3-month SS-QOL scores were associated with patients' self-report of HRQOL compared with before their stroke (PϽ0.001). Conclusions-The

Quality of life in survivors after cervical artery dissection

“…■ QOL and functional outcome measurement QOL was assessed with the stroke specific quality of life scale (SS-QOL) [14]. The SS-QOL is a disease-specific QOL scale, assessing 12 domains (energy, family roles, language, mobility, mood, personality, self-care, social roles, thinking, upper extremity function, vision and work) (Link to the questionnaire: http://www.strokecenter.org/trials/ scales/ssqol.html).…”

Quality of life in aphasia: differences between fluent and non-fluent aphasic Augmentative and Alternative Communication users

“…The fist part has questions about the individuals' difficulties regarding mobility, upper extremity function, work/productivity, self-care, language, and vision. The second part, with a subscale of 12 areas, evaluates each domain at the present moment compared to the period before the stroke: energy, mood, thinking, personality, social roles, and family roles (8,9) .…”

“…In our study, we used a specific questionnaire for cerebrovascular diseases -The Stroke Specific Quality of Life Scale (SS-QOL) (8) -translated and validated to Portuguese (9) *. The questionnaires for base population, which do not specify a pathology, are used for epidemiological research and the health system evaluation (5) .…”

“…The questionnaires for base population, which do not specify a pathology, are used for epidemiological research and the health system evaluation (5) . On the other hand, more specific questionnaires can indicate alterations in the QOL of determined groups of individuals more easily (9) , for example, in stroke sequels (7)(8)(9)(10) . For this reason, in this study we used a specific questionnaire to measure the QOL of stroke patients, mainly the aphasics.…”

Effect of Nursing Care Strategy on the Functional and Physical Abilities of Patients Following Stroke

“…It consists of two main parts. The first part covers physical abilities with six main domains [18]. The vision domain has 3 items such as trouble reaching things because of poor vision.…”