The quality of life and epilepsy. Some psychometric features of the Czech version of ESI-55 (Epilepsy Surgery Inventory)

In the last decades, the neurosurgery treatment is applied in the increasin g number of epileptic patients. The fact if the seizures became extinct or reduced is essential not only for evaluating the results of the operation b ut it is also the answer to the question what changes appeared in the quali ty of life. More methods were created to measure these changes and ESI-55 ( Vickerey, Hays, Gruber, 1992) is one of the first of them. The Czech transl ation was administered individually to 146 patients (66 women, 80 men). The testing of psychometric qualities of the questionnaire in this sample of p atients represented the authors' goal. Reliability according the Cronbach's alpha was evidently higher than the us ually required value 0,70 in nine of eleven basic scales. The scales Overal l quality of life and Social function represented the exception. The validi ty was assessed by the concurrent validity with the Czech version of Washin gton Psychosocial Seizure Inventory (WPSI). Further by using the concurrent validity with the original Czech methods SUPOS (Subjective feelings and st ates) and DSF (Questionnaire of satisfaction and frustration). Concurrent v alidity with WPSI and Czech personality questionnaires is high according to the number of statistically significant and logically well explicable corr elations. The factor analysis led to the three factors solution likewise in the USA ( I. Mental health, II. Role functioning/Cognitive function, III. Physical fu nction), that offer the interesting interpretations.