Evaluation of a Swedish version of the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales (AIMS).

A Swedish version of the self-administered health status questionnaire, Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales (AIMS), was evaluated in 147 patients with seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) of the subscales ranged from 0.57 to 0.90. The test-retest study with one month's interval showed a significant (p < 0.05) difference between the first and second measurements for Depression. The AIMS physical subscales correlated well with the components of a Swedish version of the Health Assessment Questionnaire and the psychological subscales of the AIMS had a high and significant correlation to the different dimensions of the Mood Adjective Check List. The Swedish version of the AIMS was considered to have satisfactory reliability and validity. It has proved its value as an outcome measure in previous drug trials, but was not sensitive to change in a short-term programme of active hand training.