Citation

Bongers KTJ, Schoon Y, Graauwmans MJ, Hoogsteen-Ossewaarde ME, Olde Rikkert MG. J. Aging Phys. Act. 2014; 23(3): 438-443.

Affiliation

Department of Geriatric Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Human Kinetics Publishers)

DOI

10.1123/japa.2013-0231

PMID

25342646

Abstract

Self-management of mobility and fall risk might be possible if older adults could use a simple and safe self-test to measure their own mobility, balance and fall risk at home. The aim of this study was to determine the safety, feasibility and intra-individual reliability of the Maximal Step Length (MSL), Gait Speed (GS) and Chair Test (CT) as potential self-tests for assessing mobility and fall risk. Fifty-six community-dwelling older adults performed MSL, GS and CT at home once a week during a four-week period, wherein the feasibility, test-retest reliability, coefficients of variation and linear mixed models with random effects of these three self-tests were determined. Forty-nine subjects (mean age 76.1 yrs (SD: 4.0), 19 females (42%)) completed the study without adverse effects. Compared with the other self-tests, MSL gave most often (77.6%) valid measurement results and had the best intraclass correlation coefficients (0.95 (95% confidence interval: 0.91-0.97). MSL and GS gave no significant training effect, whereas CT did show a significant training effect (p<0.01). Community-dwelling older adults can perform MSL safely, correctly and reliably, and GS safely and reliably. Further research is needed to study the responsiveness and beneficial effects of these self-tests on self-management of mobility and fall risk.

Language: en