Initial validation of the Swedish version of the London Handicap Scale

• Objective: To adapt and evaluate the unweighted version of the London Handicap Scale (LHS) for use in Sweden.Materials & Methods: Respondent burden, linguistic validity and patient perceived relevance was assessed in 16 neurologically ill patients. Internal consistency reliability and construct validity were evaluated among 89 stroke survivors six months after discharge.Results: Patients perceived the LHS as relevant and easy to understand and complete. Mean time to complete the questionnaire was 10 min. Cronbach’s alpha reliability was 0.85. The LHS differentiated between patients living at home and in special accommodations. As expected, scores correlated strongly and weakly with indices of related and more remote constructs, respectively. There were no floor-, but large ceiling effects.Conclusions: The observations reported here are in accordance with previous studies using the original British LHS and provide initial support for the reliability and validity of the instrument for use in Sweden. However, ceiling effects may limit its usefulness as an outcome measure.

Nyckelord

London Handicap Scale

Outcome assessment

Sweden; Validation studies

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