Psychometric properties of the Swedish version of the General Self-Efficacy Scale in stroke survivors

The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of a Swedish version of the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE) in stroke survivors. The GSE was administered by the same assessor on two occasions 3 weeks apart with 34 stroke survivors (21 men, 13 women; mean age = 68.1 years) 6-10 months after stroke. Psychometric properties including targeting and scaling assumptions, and several reliability indices, were calculated. The mean score was well above the midpoint of the scale and the total scores spanned almost the entire scale range. Floor and ceiling effects were within the limits of 15-20% for total scores (0 and 8.8%, respectively), but not for each item individually. Total skewness was estimated at -1.02 and skewness for individual items was estimated as -1.55 to -0.33. The corrected item-total correlations were all above 0.3, except for one item. Cronbach's alpha was high (0.92) and the test-retest reliability was acceptable (intraclass correlation coefficient(2,1)=0.82). The mean difference (d) was -0.68 (NS). The SEM was 2.97 (SEM%; 9.40). In conclusion, although targeting in relation to skewness and ceiling effects was observed in some items, the GSE was reliable for use in mobile stroke survivors 6-10 months after stroke