Citation

Kempen GIJM, Todd CJ, van Haastregt JC, Rixt Zijlstra GA, Beyer N, Freiberger E, Hauer KA, Piot-Ziegler C, Yardley L. Disabil. Rehabil. 2007; 29(2): 155-162.

Affiliation

Department of Health Care Studies, Universiteit Maastricht, The Netherlands. G.Kempen@zw.unimaas.nl

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/09638280600747637

PMID

17364765

Abstract

PURPOSE: To carry out a cross-cultural validation of the Falls Efficacy Scale International (FES-I), a 16-item modified version of the Falls Efficacy Scale that was developed to assess both easy and more complex physical and social activities, in a range of languages and different cultural contexts. METHOD: Data were collected in Germany (n = 94), The Netherlands (n = 193), and the UK (n = 178) in samples of older people living in the community. Four-week FES-I re-test data were collected in Germany and The Netherlands. Descriptive statistics and reliability estimates were computed as well as FES-I sum scores according to age, sex, falls history and fear of falling. RESULTS: Mean inter-item correlations were all above 0.38 and internal reliability estimates were all 0.90 or above. The intra-class correlation coefficients in the German and the Dutch sample were 0.79 and 0.82, respectively. As expected, FES-I scores were associated with age, sex, falls history and fear of falling. In addition, the FES-I discriminated between sub-groups somewhat better than the original ten-item FES scale. CONCLUSIONS: The FES-I has been shown to have acceptable reliability and construct validity in different samples in different countries and may be used in cross-cultural rehabilitation research and clinical trials.

Language: en