Translation and adaptation of the stroke-specific quality of life scale into Swahili

Stroke care requires a patient-centred, evidence-based and culturally appropriate approach for better patient clinical outcomes. Quality of life necessitates precise measuring using health-related quality measures that are self-reported and language appropriate. However, most of the self-reported measures were devised in Europe and therefore not considered contextually appropriate in other settings, more so in Africa.

Our study aimed to produce a Swahili version by translating and adapting the stroke-specific quality of life (SSQOL) scale among people with stroke in Kenya.

We used a questionnaire translation and cross-cultural adaptation. The pre-validation sample of 36 adult participants was drawn from 40 registered people with stroke, from the Stroke Association of Kenya (SAoK). Quantitative data were collected using both English and Swahili versions of the SSQOL scale. The mean, standard deviation (s.d.) and overall scores were calculated and are presented in tables.

The back translation revealed a few inconsistencies. Minor semantic and equivalence alterations were done in the vision, mood, self-care, upper extremity function and mobility domains by the expert review committee. Respondents indicated that all questions were well-understood and captured. The stroke onset mean age was 53.69 years and the standard deviation was 14.05.

The translated version of the Swahili SSQOL questionnaire is comprehensible and well-adapted to the Swahili-speaking population.

The SSQOL has the potential to be a useful outcome measure for use in Swahili-speaking patients with stroke.