Italian adaptation of the functional outcome questionnaire - aphasia: initial psychometric evaluation

To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of Functional Outcome Questionnaire - Aphasia.

Two hundred and five persons with stroke-related aphasia and right hemiparesis who received ongoing assistance from a family caregiver were assessed using the Functional Outcome Questionnaire - Aphasia, Aachener Aphasie Test, Token Test, Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices, Functional Independence Measure (FIM), Functional Assessment Measure (FAM), and Quality of Life Questionnaire for Aphasics (QLQA). The Functional Outcome Questionnaire - Aphasia was translated into the Italian language using a translation and back-translation method. Reliability and construct validity of the Functional Outcome Questionnaire - Aphasia were evaluated.

The Italian version of the Functional Outcome Questionnaire - Aphasia showed good internal consistency and test-retest reliability for the overall scale (α = 0.98; ICC = 0.95) and subscales (α = 0.89 for the communicating basic needs (CBN), α = 0.92 for the making routine requests (MRR), α = 0.96 for the communicating new information (CNI), α = 0.93 for the attention/other communication skills (AO); ICC = 0.95 for CBN, ICC = 0.96 for MRR, ICC = 0.97 for CNI and ICC = 0.92 for AO). Significant correlations were found between the Functional Outcome Questionnaire - Aphasia and Token Test, QLQA, Aachener Aphasie Test scores, and FAM linguistic scores, indicating good convergent validity. Low correlations were found between Functional Outcome Questionnaire - Aphasia and Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices and FIM motor scores, showing good discriminant validity.

The overall findings of this study supported the reliability and construct validity of the Italian version of the Functional Outcome Questionnaire - Aphasia. This measure holds considerable promise in assessing the functional outcomes of aphasia rehabilitation in Italian-speaking persons with aphasia. Implications for Rehabilitation Functional Outcome Questionnaire - Aphasia is a reliable and valid questionnaire in assessing functional communication of Italian-speaking people with aphasia. This measure provides critical information about people with aphasia's functional and pragmatic communication in home and community settings, contributing significantly to overall quality of life. Since the use of measures of functional communication is recommended in the clinical evaluation of language disease, the Italian version of Functional Outcome Questionnaire - Aphasia may be effective in tailoring rehabilitation treatment to the presenting communication problems of people with aphasia and their caregivers.