Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 Nov;87(11):1478-85.
doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2006.07.263.

Development of a multidimensional balance scale for use with functionally independent older adults

Affiliations

Development of a multidimensional balance scale for use with functionally independent older adults

Debra J Rose et al. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2006 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: To develop and evaluate the validity and reliability of a multidimensional balance scale-the Fullerton Advanced Balance (FAB) scale-suitable for use with functionally independent older adults.

Design: Psychometric evaluation of the scale's content and convergent validity, test-retest and intra- and interrater reliability, and internal rater consistency.

Setting: Urban community.

Participants: Forty-six community-residing older adults (mean +/- standard deviation, 75 +/- 6.2 y), with (n = 31) and without identified balance problems (n = 15), participated in the study. Four physical therapists with expertise in the assessment and treatment of balance disorders in older adults also participated in the content validity and/or reliability phases of the study.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main outcome measures: Spearman rank correlation coefficients for convergent validity, test-retest, intra- and interrater reliability, and homogeneity coefficient values for rater consistency.

Results: Test-retest reliability for the total balance scale score was high (rho = .96). Interrater reliability for total score ranged from .94 to .97 whereas intrarater reliability coefficients ranged from .97 to 1.00. Homogeneity (H) coefficients were greater than .90 for 6 of the 10 individual test items and all 10 test items had H coefficients of greater than .75 for both rating sessions.

Conclusions: Preliminary results suggest that the FAB scale is a valid and reliable assessment tool that is suitable for use with functionally independent older adults residing in the community.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

Cited by

LinkOut - more resources