The assessment of low mood in stroke patients with aphasia: reliability and validity of the 10-item Hospital version of the Stroke Aphasic Depression Questionnaire (SADQH-10)

OBJECTIVE: To assess the psychometric properties of an observational screening measure of depressive symptoms (SADQH-10; 10-item Hospital version of the Stroke Aphasic Depression Questionnaire) for use in stroke patients with aphasia and to determine the convergent and divergent validity of the SADQH-10. DESIGN: Cross-sectional cohort. SETTING: Hospital and community. PARTICIPANTS: Stroke patients with aphasia (n = 165) were recruited through hospital wards and community services as part of a randomised controlled trial. Participants were aged 29 to 94 years (68.6 ± 12.1) and 65% were men. RESULTS: The SADQH-10 demonstrated good internal consistency (α = 0.77). Factor analysis revealed the SADQH-10 to be measuring three constructs (social interaction and physical pain, tearfulness, loss of interest and motivation). Significant correlations were found between scores on the SADQH-10 and VAMS 'sad' item (r(s) = 0.297, P < 0.01) but not with the VASES 'depression' item (r(s) = 0.064, P = 0.590) or measures of physical and language abilities. CONCLUSIONS: The SADQH-10 is both a valid and reliable observational screening measure of depressive symptoms for stroke patients with aphasia.