Quality of life for people with aphasia: performance on and usability of quality of life assessments

Quality of life (QOL) assessment for people with aphasia has been limited by many difficulties. Possibly the most important issue is altered language comprehension ability which raises concerns for response reliability and validity. Second, there are few appropriate assessments for communication-disordered populations. Recent advances in the QOL concept and theory (LaPointe, 1999; Cruice et al, 2000a,b; Hirsch and Holland, 2000), have prompted greater in-depth study of the issues associated with QOL assessment in aphasia. Based on a synthesis of information from two distinct Australian and American studies, and a collaborative research study, this paper outlines a number of QOL assessments, presents performance data on these assessments, and offers information regarding the usability of these assessments for people with aphasia.