An evaluation of the validity of an aphasia friendly mood and anxiety measure for stroke patients

Introduction: People with post-stroke aphasia are at increased risk of experiencing depression and anxiety. Despite this, there is a lack of appropriate tools which can be used in routine stroke rehabilitation practice to support with the identification of patients experiencing these difficulties. The Stroke Aphasia Anxiety and Mood Screen (SAAMS) was developed by an interdisciplinary team of stroke rehabilitation professionals to improve mood and anxiety screening. The current study sought to evaluate the validity of this measure. Methods: Twenty-one people undergoing in-patient stroke rehabilitation who experienced aphasia were administered the SAAMS, alongside the Stroke Aphasic Depression Questionnaire (SADQ-H10) and the Behavioural Outcomes of Anxiety (BOA). The inclusion criteria included patients whose aphasia prevented them from completing traditional self-report measures of mood and anxiety, but who demonstrated a reliable ability to correctly respond to yes/no closed questions in Speech and Language Therapy assessments. Results: Both the SAAMS-anxiety (SAAMS-A) and depression (SAAMS-D) subscales achieved adequate internal consistency, and patients’ scores were correlated with observational measures of mood and anxiety. The SAAMS achieved fair classification accuracy for identifying clinical depression and anxiety. Conclusions: Patients with aphasia provided reliable responses to questions about anxiety and depression, and this is of clinical importance. While the study identified that the SAAMS has reasonable classification accuracy, further research is required to validate the SAAMS more thoroughly before it can be used routinely in clinical practice.