Functional Outcome Questionnaire for Aphasia: overview and preliminary psychometric evaluation.
OBJECTIVE
To perform a preliminary evaluation of a questionnaire designed to assess functional outcomes of treatment for aphasia.


METHODS
The Functional Outcome Questionnaire for Aphasia (FOQ-A) is an inventory consisting of 32 caregiver-completed items rating the person with stroke's ability to perform various communication behaviors on a 5-point scale. The total score for the FOQ-A is reported as a mean of all completed items. The FOQ-A was administered by research assistants to caregivers of patients with left hemisphere stroke (n = 18).


RESULTS
The FOQ-A showed acceptable initial reliability and validity properties. As predicted, the FOQ-A displayed high positive correlations with standardized functional communication measures. The FOQ-A also showed only weak associations with other measures (health-related quality of life, caregiver strain).


CONCLUSIONS
Overall results of our preliminary psychometric examination of the FOQ-A were promising. The findings suggested that the FOQ-A may be a sensitive measure of functional communication abilities and does not appear to be biased heavily by caregiver strain. Plans for further evaluation of the FOQ-A are discussed.
Glueckauf
Robert L
RL
Center for Research on Telehealth and Healthcare Communications, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610-0165, USA. RGluecka@hp.ufl.edu
Blonder
Lee X
LX
Ecklund-Johnson
Eric
E
Maher
Lynn
L
Crosson
Bruce
B
Gonzalez-Rothi
Leslie
L
D000328:Adult; D001037:Aphasia / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D017028:Caregivers; D003142:Communication; D003210:Concept Formation; D004463:Ecology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011594:Psychometrics; D020127:Recovery of Function; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires