Quality of life in aphasia: Greek adaptation of the stroke and aphasia quality of life scale - 39 item (SAQOL-39).
OBJECTIVE
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=or>70%; 9 out of 10 participants had no difficulty) and content validity (8 participants had nothing to add to the questionnaire).


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Kartsona
A
A
Department of Language and Communication Science, City University, London, UK.
Hilari
K
K
D000368:Aged; D001037:Aphasia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D011788:Quality of Life; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014177:Translations