Psychometric properties of the German Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale 39 generic version

Background: The international expert consensus core outcome set for post-stroke aphasia recommends the Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale - 39/generic (SAQOL-39g) for assessing patient-reported health-related quality of life. Cultural adaptations of the SAQOL-39g are mandatory in stroke rehabilitation.Aim: We adapted the original English SAQOL-39g into German and evaluated its psychometric quality.Design: Evaluation of a self-report scale embedded in a prospective multicenter parallel group randomized waitlist-controlled trial on the effectiveness of intensive speech and language therapy.Setting: Nineteen in- and outpatient aphasia rehabilitation centers in Germany.Population: People with chronic post-stroke aphasia (N.=156) of all types and severity levels.Methods: We followed applicable guidelines for cross-cultural test adaptations and psychometric evaluations. Psychometric analyses are based on the assessment before three weeks of intensive speech and language therapy (acceptability, internal consistency, validity; N.=156), on the assessments before and after three weeks of waiting in the control group (test-retest reliability; N.=78), and on the assessments before and after three weeks of intensive speech and language therapy (responsiveness; N.=156).Results: The German SAQOL-39g was feasible across all aphasia severity grades (no missing data; no floor/ceiling effects). Internal consistency was excellent (Cronbach's α=0.90); test-retest reliability was moderate-to-good (intraclass-correlations: ICC=0.73 for single/0.85 for average measures). Both exploratory factor analyses and multidimensional scaling of proximity data/graphical network analysis supported the 3-dimensional structure (domains: physical, psychosocial, communication) of the English original version. Convergent (|r|=0.29 to 0.48) and discriminative (|r|=0.03 to 0.07) validities were acceptable. Responsiveness to intervention-induced change showed a small-to-medium treatment effect (group difference after intervention compared to waiting-list control: Cohen's d=0.34).Conclusions: The German SAQOL-39g is a reliable, valid and change-sensitive patient-reported outcome measure to assess the physical, communication and psychosocial quality of life in chronic post-stroke aphasia, with comparable psychometric properties and factorial structure to the original English version.Clinical rehabilitation impact: The German SAQOL-39g is an easy-to-administer and -score patient-reported scale that can be used in rehabilitation settings to measure health-related quality of life and support patient-centered goal setting in people with chronic post-stroke aphasia of different ages, stroke durations, severity and type of aphasia

Teachers’ Resistance to Mobile Learning in Turkey and Spain: What Similarities? What Differences?

6th European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL) -- SEP 24-27, 2018 -- Univ Oulu, Dept Informat & Commun Studies, Oulu, FINLANDThe aim of this paper is to present the data on secondary school teachers' resistant attitudes towards integrating digital technologies and literacies into their classrooms. The data was gathered through qualitative interviews in the frame of two distinct one-to-one technology programs that took place in distant socio-cultural and educational contexts: the FATIH Project of Turkey and the Escuela 2.0/EduCAT1x1 of Catalonia/Spain. This comparative analysis shows that teachers mainly resist educational change and the government, although they slightly differ in the underlying assumptions supporting their resistance. Their discourses on technology in schools have settled into discourses of uncertainty where negative attitudes are compensated with slightly positive comments about digital artefacts and literacies as tools for learning. Findings also indicate that teachers, regardless of the educational context they work in, have assumed the discourse of inevitability that dominates viewpoints concerning technology and digital literacy in education.Hacettepe Univ, Dept Informat Management, Zagreb Univ, Dept Informat & Commun Sci, Informat Literacy AssocTurkish Ministry of National EducationMinistry of National Education - Turkey; project Digital identities and Cultures in Language Education - ICUDEL, Ministry of Science and Innovation in Spain [EDU2014-57677-C2-1-R]This paper analyses data that is part of two R&D projects. In Turkey, the researcher was supported by the Turkish Ministry of National Education during her PhD, and the data was collected from the schools that were selected for the pilot phase of the FATIH Project. In Catalonia/Spain, data comes from the project Digital identities and Cultures in Language Education - ICUDEL (Ref. EDU2014-57677-C2-1-R, Ministry of Science and Innovation in Spain; directed by Dr. D. Cassany at the Pompeu Fabra University. The researchers from ICUDEL research group Josep M. Castella and Sonia Oliver del Olmo have participated in the collection and/or interpretation of some data selected for this analysis. Site: https://sites.google.com/site/icudel15/home. We are grateful to the secondary school teachers who participated in both studies. Without their participation, neither the studies being compared herein and this paper have not been possible.WOS:0006179125000472-s2.0-8506229759