Cross-cultural validation of the Falls Efficacy Scale-International to assess concerns about falls among Hungarian community-living older people

Abstract

Purpose: The Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) is a reliable and valid tool for assessing concerns about falling. Our aims were to translate, culturally adapt, and evaluate the main psychometric characteristics (internal consistency, reproducibility, and convergent construct validity) of the Hungarian version of the FES-I on a sample of community-living older adults.

Methods: After translating and culturally adapting the original scale, 165 community-living older adults (aged 60 years or over) participated in the measurements and filled in the questionnaire. After two weeks, a subsample of 64 persons filled in the FES-I again to determine the test–retest reliability.

Results: The test–retest analysis showed excellent reliability: Intraclass Correlation Coefficient was 0.831. The FES-I Hungarian consisted of two factors that showed good internal consistency: Cronbach’s alpha 0.95 (Factor 1), 0.89 (Factor 2), and 0.93 (whole scale). The FES-I was able to discriminate the participants based on gender and fall history. It showed a significant correlation with the Timed Up and Go test (r = 0.740) and the general health perception (r = −0.713).

Conclusions: Translation and cultural adaptation of the original scale were successful. The Hungarian version proved to be a reliable, valid tool confirming that it can be used in future clinical and scientific work with Hungarian older people.

Implications for rehabilitation

• Excessive concerns about falls may lead to avoidance of activities, decreasing functional abilities, increasing of risk of a future fall, ultimately premature nursing home admission.

• The Falls Efficacy Scale-International is a widespread tool for assessing concerns about falls.

• The Hungarian version of Falls Efficacy Scale-International has an excellent test–retest reliability, good internal consistency, and acceptable construct validity.

• The Hungarian version of Falls Efficacy Scale-International is a valid and reliable tool for measuring the concerns about falls among Hungarian-speaking community-living older people in everyday clinical practice and scientific studies.

Keywords:

• Concerns about falls
• cross-cultural adaptation
• FES-I
• reliability
• validity

Disclosure statement

The authors report no declarations of interest.