2.1 The aim of the study
A descriptive and cross-sectional study was performed in order to evaluate the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of stroke patients, to compare SF-36 which is one of the globally used QOL scales with stroke-specific quality of life (SSQOL), to investigate the relationship between them, and inquire whether they differ according to sociodemographic characteristics of the patients. For the purposes of this study, definition of stroke proposed by World Health Organization was used.