Stroke impact scale version 2: validation of the French version

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Stroke affects nearly 1 in 1,000 individuals annually in France.
• Measuring health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is crucial for understanding stroke's impact on patients' daily lives.
• A validated, stroke-specific questionnaire for HRQoL in French was previously unavailable.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate the French version of the Stroke Impact Scale (SIS) questionnaire.
• To establish a reliable tool for assessing perceived health status post-stroke in a French-speaking population.

Main Methods:

• 288 stroke patients (158 acute, 130 chronic) participated in the validation study.
• Assessed were item completion rates, test-retest reliability, sensitivity to change, and construct, convergent, and discriminant validity.
• Concurrent measures included the Barthel Index, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and Duke Health Profile.

Main Results:

• The French SIS demonstrated good acceptance, reproducibility (Cronbach's alpha 89%), and psychometric properties comparable to the US version.
• Significant correlations were found between SIS physical domains and physical capacity measures (Barthel Index, Duke Health Profile).
• Emotional and social domains correlated well with the Duke Health Profile; responsiveness was good for physical and emotional domains.

Conclusions:

• The French SIS version exhibits good psychometric properties, though a ceiling effect was noted.
• This is the first validated stroke-specific HRQoL questionnaire in France.
• The validated French SIS can be a valuable tool for future research on post-stroke HRQoL.