Reliability and validity of Persian versions of Mini-BESTest and Brief-BESTest in persons with Parkinson’s disease

ABSTRACT

Background

Mini-BESTest and Brief-BESTest are used to assess balance in patients with a wide range of balance disorders. While there are Persian versions of Mini-BESTest and Brief-BESTest, the psychometric properties have not been thoroughly evaluated. This study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the Persian versions of Mini-BESTest and Brief-BESTest in persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Methods

Three medical students rated videotaped performances of 49 individuals with PD on the Persian Mini-BESTest, Persian Brief-BESTest, and Berg balance scale (BBS). Healthy adults were matched with persons having PD in terms of age and gender.

Results

There were no floor and ceiling effects. Inter- and intra-rater reliability was excellent (ICC = 0.965–0.973). The minimal detectable changes were 2.37 and 3.47 for Persian versions of Mini-BESTest and Brief-BESTest, respectively. The Persian versions of Mini-BESTest and Brief-BESTest had very good correlations with BBS (r > 0.7) confirming construct validity. There was a very good correlation between the Mini-BESTest and the Brief-BESTest total scores (r = 0.78). There were significant differences between the persons with PD and healthy adults on both tests supporting discriminant validity. Significant differences in balance performances across Hoehn and Yahr stages were found which supported known-groups validity.

Conclusion

The Persian versions of Mini-BESTest and Brief-BESTest are reliable and valid instruments for balance evaluation in persons with PD. Further study to determine the reliability and validity of both tests when examining patients in real-time in the clinic is warranted.

KEYWORDS:

• Balance
• Mini-BESTest
• Brief-BESTest
• Parkinson’s disease
• reliability
• validity

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Prof. Fay B. Horak for her kind cooperation during the translation process of BESTest and Mini-BESTest and providing us with the DVD in using the BESTest. The grant support from Sports Medicine Research Center, Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences is greatly acknowledged (Grant number: 96-01-53-33984).

Declaration of interest

The authors report no declarations of interest.

Supplementary materials

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.