The test-retest reliability of the Aphasia Attitudes, Strategies and Knowledge (AASK) survey with student health professionals

Introduction Few self-administered outcome measures are available for communication partner training (CPT) programs for aphasia. The Aphasia Attitudes, Strategies, and Knowledge (AASK) survey was developed to align with and evaluate three key ingredients of the Supported Conversation for adults with Aphasia (SCA (TM)) communication partner training model. The AASK is a new, clinically feasible tool that provides the option of flexible administration contexts, particularly with university-based student health professionals. Aim As the first step of psychometric evaluation, this paper addresses the aim of evaluating test-retest reliability of the AASK survey. Methods and Procedures Test-retest reliability of the survey was evaluated with responses from 52 allied health student health professionals (including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and rehabilitation counsellors) at The University of Sydney . Participants completed the survey at two time points, either in-person or digitally. The AASK survey contains three sections that correspond with the three key ingredients of SCA (TM): knowledge of aphasia, understanding of strategies to facilitate communication with people with aphasia, and attitudes towards communicating with people with aphasia. Each of these three sections and the 11 items were tested for reliability using Kendall's Coefficient of Concordance. Outcomes and Results The survey response rate was 89.66%. Ten of the eleven items of the AASK survey had a Kendall's W above 0.61, corresponding with strong to very strong test-retest reliability. Kendall's W was equal to or above 0.70 for all sections of the AASK survey, again within the range of strong to very strong test-retest reliability. Conclusions The AASK survey was developed as a clinically feasible tool that evaluates CPT knowledge of aphasia and SCA (TM) communication strategies as well as confidence interacting with individuals with aphasia. In this study, the AASK survey was found to have strong stability, which is one of the important psychometric properties required for an evidence-based CPT outcome measure.