Table 2

Selection of 12 items out of the 49 item Stroke Specific Quality of Life Scale

Domain^*	Cronbach's alpha 49 item SS-QoL	Item total domain correlations 49 item SS-QoL	Item selected for SS-QoL-12	Response set^†	Explained variance of domain by chosen item (%)
Self-care	0.85	0.77–0.85	Did you need help taking a bath or shower?	1	73
Mobility	0.92	0.81–0.89	Did you have to stop and rest more than you would like when walking or using a wheelchair?	1	79
Upper extremity	0.86	0.76–0.88	Did you have trouble buttoning buttons?^‡	1	78
Language	0.90	0.80–0.89	Did you have to repeat yourself so others could understand you?	1	80
Vision	0.80	0.84–0.87	Did you have trouble seeing the television well enough to enjoy a show?	1	75
Work	0.92	0.91–0.93	Did you have trouble doing daily work around the house?	1	87
Thinking	0.82	0.82–0.90	I had trouble remembering things.	2	81
Family roles	0.82	0.78–0.89	I felt I was a burden to my family.^‡	2	80
Social roles	0.87	0.72–0.87	My physical condition interfered with my social life.	2	75
Personality	0.90	0.81–0.89	My personality has changed.	2	79
Mood	0.85	0.71–0.85	I was discouraged about my future.	2	72
Energy	0.92	0.90–0.95	I was too tired to do what I wanted to do.	2	90

↵* Physical HRQoL: self-care, mobility, upper extremity function, language, vision, work. Psychosocial HRQoL: thinking, family roles, social roles, personality, mood, energy.
↵† Response set 1: (1) couldn't do it at all; (2) a lot of trouble; (3) some trouble; (4) little trouble; (5) no trouble at all. Response set 2: (1) strongly agree; (2) moderately agree; (3) neither agree nor disagree; (4) moderately disagree; (5) strongly disagree.
↵‡ Item arbitrarily chosen from two that had equal highest item rest correlations.
SS-QoL, Stroke Specific Quality of Life Scale; SS-QoL-12, 12 item Stroke Specific Quality of Life Scale.