Translation and preliminary psychometric evaluation of the Arabic Stroke Aphasia Depression Questionnaire–Hospital version (SADQ-H10)

Background Screening for post-stroke depression in individuals with aphasia is challenging because commonly used depression measures rely on verbal communication. The Stroke Aphasia Depression Questionnaire – Hospital 10-item version (SADQ-H10) is an observer-rated instrument developed specifically for this population; however, no Arabic version has been available to date.Aims This study aimed to translate and culturally adapt the SADQ-H10 into Arabic and to evaluate its preliminary internal consistency reliability and item-level performance in Arabic-speaking stroke survivors with aphasia.Methods and procedures The SADQ-H10 was translated and culturally adapted into Arabic following established cross-cultural adaptation guidelines, involving expert panel review. The Arabic version was administered to 35 adult stroke survivors with aphasia attending outpatient rehabilitation clinics at a tertiary rehabilitation hospital in Saudi Arabia. Internal consistency reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha, corrected item – total correlations, and inter-item correlation analysis applying standard psychometric criteria.Outcomes and results The Arabic SADQ-H10 demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.799. Corrected item – total correlations indicated that all items contributed adequately to the overall scale. Item 10 initially showed weaker alignment with other items; however, reverse coding improved its conceptual and statistical coherence.Conclusions The Arabic version of the SADQ-H10 demonstrates satisfactory preliminary internal consistency and acceptable item-level performance, supporting its potential use as a preliminary observer-rated screening tool for depressive behaviors in Arabic-speaking stroke survivors with aphasia. Further studies with larger and more diverse samples are required to evaluate additional psychometric properties, including construct validity, criterion validity and responsiveness.