ORIGINAL ARTICLES   Free access

Europa Medicophysica 2007 March;43(1):27-35

Copyright © 2007 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Quality of life in aphasia: Greek adaptation of the stroke and aphasia quality of life scale- 39 item (SAQOL-39)

Kartsona A., Hilari K.

Department of Language and Communication Science City University, London, UK

Aim. Health-related quality of life (HRQL) measures are becoming increasingly popular in evaluating health care interventions and services. The stroke and aphasia quality of life scale-39 item (SAQOL-39) is an English questionnaire that measures HRQL in people with aphasia. There is currently no measure to assess the HRQL of Greek-speaking people with aphasia. This study began the cross-cultural adaptation of the SAQOL-39 into Greek, by translating and linguistically validating the instrument.
Methods. The Mapi approach to linguistic validation was followed. The SAQOL-39 was forward translated into Greek and back-translated into English. The pilot version was produced by comparing the forward and backward translations. The resulting instrument was then reviewed by an expert professional and pilot tested with a sample of 10 people with aphasia.
Results. Sixty-seven percent of back-translated items matched those in the original instrument. Only 20% of the items in the consensus version needed amendments for the pilot version. The pilot testing showed that the SAQOL-39 had good accessibility (no missing data), acceptability (maximum endorsement frequencies, MEF£70%; 9 out of 10 participants had no difficulty) and content validity (8 participants had nothing to add to the questionnaire).
Conclusion. By employing the Mapi approach to linguistic validation, a close matching between the original and the Greek version of the SAQOL-39 was ensured. The Greek SAQOL-39 is accessible and acceptable to people with aphasia. Further research is needed on the psychometric properties of the Greek SAQOL-39 and on its appropriateness as a clinical outcome measure.