From informal to formal: the preliminary psychometric evaluation of the short aphasia test for Gulf Arabic speakers (SATG)

ABSTRACT

Background: Speech and language therapists in Gulf Arabic countries still rely on informal aphasia and/or translated western-language assessments to assess the language proficiency of people with aphasia. However, these tests are not sensitive to the linguistic and cultural features of the Arabic language, which may lead to inaccurate diagnosis. This paper describes the preliminary development and psychometric evaluation of the short aphasia test for Gulf Arabic speakers (SATG).

Method: The aim was to develop and preliminarily assess the psychometric properties of the SATG. Three phases determined whether subtests and tasks were culturally and linguistically appropriate for Gulf Arabic populations. The test consists of six sections that assess different language skills: semi-spontaneous speech, auditory comprehension, repetition, naming, automatic speech, recitation, reading and writing. Together, these aim to detect the absence or presence of aphasia and provide a broad classification of aphasia syndrome (fluent and non-fluent).

Result: The SATG takes 20 minutes to complete. It was administered to 37 healthy adult controls and 31 people with aphasia post-stroke. In this pilot study the SATG demonstrated good to excellent reliability over time and from one clinician to another. The SATG was found to have face and content validity.

Conclusion: Preliminary results indicate that the SATG is a reliable and valid aphasia assessment. Further study is needed to examine the efficacy of the SATG to screen for the presence of aphasia (i.e., differentiate between those with and without aphasia post-stroke), distinguish severity levels for aphasia, and to improve standardisation with a wider range of control participants.

KEYWORDS:

• Assessment
• aphasia
• Arabic
• Saudi Arabia
• psychometric

Acknowledgements

Research Center of the Female Scientific and Medical Colleges, Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.