title: Quality of life among Swedish patients after stroke: psychometric evaluation of SF-36.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Few studies have evaluated the scale assumptions of the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form (SF-36) with stroke survivors. The aims of this study were to evaluate the scale assumptions of SF-36 using Swedish patients after stroke and to compare patients' quality of life with that of a healthy population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  SF-36 was tested in 188 patients (mean age 74 years) with acute stroke consecutively enrolled from a stroke unit in southern Sweden during 2003-05.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected by interview during a home visit 2-3 weeks after discharge. Psychometric analyses were conducted, and stroke survivors' quality of life was compared with a Swedish normal population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The internal consistency reliability was >0.70 for all scales. There were notable floor and/or ceiling effects for 3 scales. For 7 scales, there was the expected association with the 2 summary scales. Compared with a normal Swedish population, stroke has a negative effect on health-related quality of life, especially for patients aged 45-54 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SF-36 functions well as a measure of health-related quality of life in Swedish patients after stroke, but the 2 summary scales have shortcomings. Our findings support good divergent validity of SF-36 for discriminating health-related quality of life of stroke groups and normal populations.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Gerontology, School of Health Sciences, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden. alah@hhj.hj.se
authors.forename: Ann-Helene
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Almborg
authors.forename: Stig
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berg
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020521:Stroke / Q000523:psychology*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires