Psychometric evaluation of a Swedish version of the communication strategies scale of the communication profile for the hearing impaired.

Abstract

The Communication Strategies scale of the Communication Profile for the Hearing Impaired (CPHI) was translated into Swedish and used in several studies of people with hearing impairment (Hallberg & Carlsson, in press; Hallberg, Erlandsson, & Carlsson, 1991). In this study the scale was evaluated in terms of descriptive statistics, corrected item-total correlations, principal component analysis, and internal consistency reliability. Agreement with results from American studies is surprisingly good. Normative data based on three samples are presented: a general Swedish hearing-impaired sample with predominantly sensorineural hearing loss (N = 199), a subgroup of 105 younger subjects with noise-induced hearing loss, and a subgroup of 39 older subjects with sensorineural hearing loss due to heredity and/or old age. A significantly more frequent use of maladaptive behaviors (p less than .001) and verbal communication strategies (p less than .01) was reported by older subjects with age-related and/or hereditary hearing loss than by younger subjects with noise-induced hearing loss. The Communication Strategies scale seems to be an adequately reliable and clinically useful instrument for assessing adaptive and maladaptive strategies in hearing-impaired subjects.