JCPSLP Vol 21 No 2 2019 DIGITAL Edition

Measurement and evaluation in practice

Top 10 resources Tips for aphasia outcome measurement that measures up! Sarah J. Wallace

S arah Wallace is a speech pathologist who specialises in aphasia rehabilitation and outcome measurement. Sarah has worked clinically in aged care and rehabilitation within ACT Health and in policy and project roles for the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. She completed her PhD in aphasia outcome measurement at The University of Queensland, where she is now a lecturer in speech pathology. Here are her top 10 tips and resources. 1 Get your tech on with D-VAMS There are some really innovative outcome measures being developed. The Dynamic Visual Analogue Mood Scales (D-VAMS) is a non-verbal mood assessment designed for people with post-stroke aphasia. It consists of sliders controlling transitions between facial expressions on seven scales. D-VAMS is freely available online (http://dvams.com) and as an android app. 2 The AARP and searchable online databases There are many places online to find information about aphasia outcome measures. Try: • The Australian Aphasia Rehabilitation Pathway http:// www.aphasiapathway.com.au/ • Stroke Engine https://www.strokengine.ca/en/ • Shirley Ryan AbilityLab Rehabilitation Measure Database https://www.sralab.org/rehabilitation-measures 3 Get the patient perspective: Consider a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) The importance of including the patient’s perspective in outcome measurement is becoming increasingly recognised. There are lots of available outcome measures that are patient-reported or include patient-reported components (and many are freely available). Here is a selection to consider: Emotional well-being Stroke Impact Scale 2.0 (SIS) Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) Behavioural outcomes of anxiety scale (BOA) Communication Confidence Rating Scale for Aphasia (CCRSA) Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) Stroke and Aphasia (SAD) Scale Visual Analogue Self-Esteem Scale (VASES) Visual Analogue Mood Scale (VAMS and D-VAMS)

Communication (activity/participation) Aphasia Communication Outcome Measure (ACOM) The Communication Outcome After Stroke (COAST) The Communicative Activities Checklist and the Social

Activities Checklist (COMACT; SOCACT), The Communication Disability Profile (CDP) Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ) Stroke Social Network Scale (SNSS)

Quality of life Aachen Life Quality Inventory (ALQI) [German] Burden of Stroke Scale (BOSS) Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale (SAQOL-39) Stroke Specific Quality of Life Scale (SS-QOL) Quality of life questionnaire for aphasics (QLQA) [Italian]

Multiple ICF components Assessment for Living With Aphasia (ALA) The Aphasia Impact Questionnaire (AIQ-21) https:// www.aiq-21.net

4 Outcomes in speech-language pathology

We measure for many different reasons in clinical practice: to screen for the presence of aphasia, to diagnose aphasia, to identify strengths and areas of difficulty, and to measure outcomes. Outcomes in Speech-Language Pathology by Leanne Golper and the late Carol Frattali (Golper & Frattali, 2013) provides the A–Z of measurement in speech pathology practice and a great place to start thinking about outcomes and outcome measurement. 5 The International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF) The ICF provides us with a framework for thinking about (among other things) outcome measurement. My team and I looked at the outcomes that were most important to people with aphasia and their families, and found these spanned all components of the ICF (Wallace et al., 2017). We can make our outcome measurement more meaningful by taking a family-centred approach to care and collaboratively setting goals and measuring outcomes across the ICF. The tables in our article (Wallace et al.,

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JCPSLP Volume 21, Number 2 2019

www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au