Abstract.
There is a lack of sound instruments for measuring patient satisfaction with stroke care. One self-report instrument comprising two subscales, satisfaction with inpatient care and satisfaction with care after discharge, has been validated, but only in the United Kingdom. In later studies, items have been added without further validation. Therefore, we tested this extended questionnaire (Satisfaction with Stroke Care questionnaire; SASC-19) for feasibility, reliability (homogeneity and test-retest agreement), and construct validity (convergent and divergent validity and factor analysis) in the Netherlands in 166 prospectively collected stroke patients living at home 6 months after discharge. To determine the test-retest reliability, 51 patients completed the SASC-19 again two weeks after they first completed it. The response rate was 90 %; the mean time needed to complete the SASC-19 was less than 10 minutes. Six items were omitted by more than 10 % of the patients. Both subscales showed good homogeneity and almost perfect test-retest reliability (Cronbach's α's > 0.80; Intraclass Correlation Coefficients > 0.80). The correlations with the General Satisfaction questionnaire (convergent validity) ranged between 0.33 and 0.55; those with the Barthel Index, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the Short Form 36 (SF-36) health survey questionnaire (divergent validity) ranged between 0.12 and 0.47. Factor analysis showed a total explained variance of 49 %, which supports the subscale structure. We conclude that the SASC-19 is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring patient satisfaction with stroke care and it is easy to complete. The feasibility in terms of missing values is moderate.
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Received: 29 July 2002, Received in revised form: 6 November 2002, Accepted: 21 November 2002
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Boter, H., de Haan, R. & Rinkel, G. Clinimetric evaluation of a Satisfaction-with-Stroke-Care questionnaire. J Neurol 250, 534–541 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-003-1031-2
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-003-1031-2