The psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Stroke Quality of Life Scale.

Background: Quality of life (QoL) is currently of particular importance to health services and is regarded a key dimension for the assessment of stroke outcomes. However there are few instruments available for the Portuguese population.
Objectives: The aim of the present work is to determine the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Stroke Quality of Life Scale (ECVI-38), including acceptability, construct and criterion validity.
Material and Methods: The sample comprised 51 patients with a clinical history of stroke (2 to 24 months prior) from the outpatient clinic of two Portuguese hospitals.. Patients with neuropsychiatric pathologies or other health conditions that might affect QoL were excluded. Parallel to the application of the ECVI-38, several other tests were used in order to determine the discriminative and concurrent validity of the scale.
Results: The ECVI-38 showed good acceptability, with missing data below 10%, and ceiling and floor effects below 80%. Cronbach's alpha for the total scale was 0.94 and ranged between 0.7 and 0.9 in each domain. ECVI-38 results were able to differentiate patients according to the severity of neurological impairment. Every domain of the scale correlated significantly with instruments of similar content.
Conclusions: The Portuguese version of the ECVI-38 showed good psychometric characteristics.