Adaptation and validation of the Greek version of the Communication and Language Assessment questionnaire for persons with Multiple Sclerosis (CLAMS)

Nefeli Dimitriou; Grigorios Nasios; Anastasia Nousia; Emmanouil Anyfantis; Lambros Messinis; Georgios Dimakopoulos; Sarah El-Wahsh; Christos Bakirtzis; Vasiliki Kostadima; Spiridon Konitsiotis

doi:10.1093/arclin/acae015

Adaptation and validation of the Greek version of the Communication and Language Assessment questionnaire for persons with Multiple Sclerosis (CLAMS)

Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2024 Mar 9:acae015. doi: 10.1093/arclin/acae015. Online ahead of print.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Speech and Language Therapy, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
² Department of Speech and Language Therapy, University of Peloponnese, Kalamata 24100, Greece.
³ Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
⁴ BIOSTATS, Science and Technology Park of Epirus, Ioannina, Greece.
⁵ Discipline of Speech Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.
⁶ B' Department of Neurology, AHEPA University Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
⁷ Department of Neurology, University of Ioannina Medical School, Ioannina, Greece.

PMID: 38462980
DOI: 10.1093/arclin/acae015

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the present study was to validate the Communication and Language Assessment questionnaire for persons with Multiple Sclerosis (CLAMS) into the Greek language.

Method: 106 Persons with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) and 51 healthy controls (HCs) participated in this study. We evaluated patients' cognitive abilities with the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS). All PwMS completed the CLAMS and three additional questionnaires (Speech Pathology-Specific Questionnaire for persons with Multiple Sclerosis, SMS; Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale-39, SAQOL-39; the Beck Depression Inventory Fast Screen, BDI-FS), and all HCs filled in the CLAMS.

Results: The internal consistency of the CLAMS was excellent (a = 0.933) for the PwMS and a significant difference was found between PwMS and HCs for the total CLAMS score. Statistical analyses showed a significant positive correlation between the CLAMS and the other questionnaires (SMS, BDI, and SAQOL-39) and a statistically significant negative correlation between the CLAMS and the three subtests of the BICAMS (Symbol Digit Modalities Test, Greek Verbal Learning Test-II, and Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised). There was no correlation between the CLAMS and participants' age, disease duration, and disease type.

Conclusion: The Greek version of the CLAMS is a valid self-reported questionnaire for the evaluation of language and communication symptoms in PwMS.

Keywords: Communication; Language; Multiple sclerosis; Patient reported outcome measure; Validation.