Dysarthria impact profile: development of a scale to measure psychosocial effects

The psychosocial impact of acquired dysarthria on the speaker is well recognized. To date, speech-and-language therapists have no instrument available to measure this construct. This has implications for outcome measurement and for planning intervention. This paper describes the Dysarthria Impact Profile (DIP), an instrument that has the potential to meet this need in clinical practice.

To describe the development of the DIP, which was devised as part of a larger study to measure psychosocial impact of acquired dysarthria from the speaker's perspective.

The current psychometric properties of the DIP are examined. The scale was administered to 31 participants with acquired dysarthria. The internal consistency of the scale items and their intra-rater reliability were investigated. Concurrent validity was assessed for the portion of the scale (Section A) assessing impact of acquired dysarthria on self-perception, self-concept and self-esteem by comparing the results with changes in self-concept as determined by the Head Injury Semantic Differential Scale (HISD II).

The DIP shows good internal consistency and strong intra-rater reliability overall. There was a strong, statistically significant, correlation between results on Section A of the DIP and the results of the HISD II suggesting convergent validity for this portion of the scale. There are some limitations to the scale in its current format and these are highlighted.

The scale is now ready for further refinement and development. Once validated, it should act as a robust outcome measure for clinicians.