Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Sinhala version of Mississippi Aphasia Screening Test

Background & Aim: Aphasia is an acquired language disorder that may result from various neurological conditions; however, it is most seen among patients with stroke, affecting nearly one-third of stroke survivors. Early identification is essential to initiate timely rehabilitation. The Mississippi Aphasia Screening Test (MAST) is a brief and reliable tool to detect receptive and expressive aphasia. Therefore, this study aimed to validate the MAST specifically for screening aphasia in patients with stroke. This study aims to cross-culturally adapt and validate the Sinhala version of MAST (MAST-S).
Methods: The study involved 60 participants (30 patients with aphasia and 30 controls) conveniently recruited from the National Hospital, Galle. Linguistic validation of MAST-S included forward and backward translation, expert committee review, and cognitive debriefing to ensure cultural relevance and linguistic equivalence. Discriminant validity was assessed by comparing mean total scores between the aphasia and control groups. Reliability testing included internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) and inter-rater reliability (kappa).
Results: The mean (standard deviation, SD) age of patients with aphasia was 65.8 (9.4) years, with 66.7% (n=20) being male. The mean (SD) total scores of the MAST-S were 45.77 (28.02) for patients with aphasia and 97.73 (4.92) for the control group, demonstrating strong discriminant validity. MAST-S showed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha=0.92) and satisfactory inter-rater reliability (kappa=0.65) between the principal investigator and a speech-language pathologist.
Conclusions & Recommendations: MAST-S is a reliable and valid screening test to detect aphasia among Sinhala speaking patients with stroke.