Testing Emotionalism After Recent Stroke Questionnaire (TEARS-Q)

The TEARS-Q is a clinical questionnaire designed to assess emotionalism after a stroke. Emotionalism is a common condition that occurs after a stroke and is caused by changes in the brain. It involves sudden and unexpected episodes of emotion, most commonly tearfulness, and is often misinterpreted as depression.

The questionnaire comprises eight questions, and respondents rate statements on a scale ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." These questions pertain to experiences of tearfulness over the past two weeks. The first two questions serve as a screening tool, and if a person responds with "disagree" or "strongly disagree" to both, it suggests an absence of emotionalism.

The TEARS-Q is unidimensional, internally consistent and has high diagnostic accuracy. With a cut-off point of ≥2, the TEARS-Q has a sensitivity of 87% and specificity of 90%. The two-item screen has a high classification accuracy, with the continue/discontinue classification achieving 90% sensitivity and 82% specificity.

The TEARS-Q was developed by Professor Niall Broomfield, the TEARS research team and colleagues at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and is shared here with their permission. The research was funded by the Stroke Association, a UK-registered stroke charity. If you would like to know more about the research behind TEARS-Q, please contact the IP Office

Downloading the questionnaire

You are welcome to download the TEARS-Q here and to use it under the terms of the creative commons licence. Organisations will be required to complete some details and a short questionnaire. Researchers wishing to use this questionnaire with patients must make their own application for Research Ethics and Trust Management/Research Governance review. We require the details requested so that we can comply with monitoring and assessment of the impact of the work on society. We may only contact you to request feedback of your use of the questionnaire and not for any other purpose.

If you have any difficulties downloading the TEARS-Q, please contact us.