Development and initial validation of a clinical measure to assess early symptoms of post‐stroke depression in the acute stroke patient

Aims and objectives To evaluate a measure specifically developed to clinically assess early symptoms of post-stroke depression (PSD) in acute stroke patients Background Post-stroke depression is associated with elevated rates of morbidity and mortality following mild to moderate stroke. Measures currently used to assess depression in acute post stroke patients can lack the clinical specificity necessary to detect symptoms within 30 days post-stroke. Design A two-round Delphi design was used to estimate symptom consensus. Methods Three panels, healthcare professionals (N=74), experts (N=16), and acute post-stroke patients (N=40), evaluated an initial set of symptom-items systematically developed by the research team. Results Our study yielded consensus for 29 symptom-items. Additional symptoms recommended by acute post stroke patients increased the final number of symptoms to 35. Conclusions. We developed a specific measure of early symptoms of PSD in acute stroke patients with good content validity. Relevance to clinical practice The specific clinical relevance of our findings lies in the consensus of health professionals, the Delphi panel and patients regarding core areas of clinical assessment during the acute post stroke phase. And our findings may draw attention to the need to assess and treat acute stroke patients with early symptoms of PSD. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.