Turkish version of the Stroke-Specific Quality of Life Scale.

AIM: To test the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Stroke-Specific Quality of Life Scale (SS-QOL).

BACKGROUND: Stroke is a leading cause of activity limitation and participation restriction that negatively affect health-related quality of life. The assessment of SS-QOL in stroke patients has not been validated in Turkey.

METHODS: Cross-sectional and methodological research design was used. Five hundred stroke survivors who had been diagnosed with stroke at least 6 months previously were included in this cross-sectional study. The reliability of the SS-QOL was based on internal consistency, item correlation. Construct validity was evaluated by Exploratory Factor Analysis. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated for the total score of the SS-QOL to establish the internal consistency of the instrument. Construct validity was assessed by comparing patients' scores on the SS-QOL with those obtained by other test methods: SF-36 Health Survey and Katz Index of Activities of Daily Living.

FINDINGS: In the process of adaptation to the Turkish population, the scale was converted to 48 items. The correlation coefficient for the test-retest scores of the SS-QOL was calculated as 0.81. Internal consistency for the scale showed Cronbach's alpha = 0.97. As a result of applying factor analysis to the scale, eight factors were obtained, which accounted for 77.47% of the scale's total variance.

CONCLUSION: SS-QOL is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring self-reported health-related quality of life at group level among people with stroke who are diagnosed with stroke at least 6 months previously in the Turkish population.