Abstract:
Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is an important measure that enables evaluation of rehabilitation outcomes. Stroke
and Aphasia Quality of Life Generic Scale–39 (SAQOL-39g) is a disease-specific questionnaire that measures HRQOL of patients with
stroke. This study was conducted to adapt the preliminary version of proxy-rated Sinhala version of the SAQOL-39g.
Methods: The study was conducted with the participation of 115 proxies of the patients with stroke. The SAQOL-39g was translated and
back translated, and culturally adapted by evaluating the items of the questionnaire. The culturally adapted scale was evaluated for its inter nal consistency, test-retest reliability, and validity.
Results: The mean age of the patients with stroke was 67.07 (standard deviation [SD]=11.2) years; males comprising two-thirds of the
study sample (67% [n=77]). The proxy-rated Sinhala version of the SAQOL-39g showed excellent internal consistency (α=0.98 [overall
score]), 0.97, 0.96, and 0.95 for physical, communication, and psychosocial domains, respectively. The intraclass correlation coefficient
(ICC) was 0.92 for overall, and 0.93, 0.92, and 0.91 for physical, communication, and psychosocial domains, respectively. Factor analysis
extracted 3 factors with 72.4% of the variance.
Conclusions: Proxy-rated Sinhala version of the SAQOL-39g is a psychometrically sound, reliable, and valid tool to assess the post stroke quality of life of Sinhala-speaking patients with stroke and aphasia.
