Is a Fall Efficacy Scale Reliable, Valid for OAs With PD?

The Fall Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I), an assessment questionnaire, was found to be reliable and valid to measure the fear of falling during on- and off-drug phases in older adults with Parkinson disease (PD). Researchers published their findings online in Parkinson’s Disease.

“Since fear of falling may be one of the main problems in people with Parkinson's disease (PD), its assessment with valid tools is necessary in both drug phases,” Maryam Mehdizadeh, of the Cellular and Molecular Research Center at Iran University of Medical Science, and colleagues, explained.  

In order to better understand the psychometric attributes of the FES-I in patients with PD, in both on and off phases, the research team assessed 124 participants with PD (mean age ± standard deviation, 60.33 ± 12.59 years). The study participants were assessed with FES-I, both in on- and off-drug phases. Further, the researchers observed the dimensionality, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability through a factor analysis, Cronbach’s alpha, and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient. The validity of FES-I was established with Visual Analog Scale-Fear of Falling, Berg Balance Scale, and Functional Reach Test. Also applied to the analysis was the Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire-39 and Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale-Activities of Daily Living. Finally, discriminative validity was tested between patients with and without a history of falling.  

According to the findings, two factors were observed for on-drug phase, and one factor for off-drug phase. The researchers concluded that “Internal consistency (α = 0.96, On phase; 0.98, Off phase) and test-retest reliability (0.94; 0.91) were satisfactory in both drug phases.” Additionally, a moderate/high correlation (r _S = |0.50-0.70|) between FES-I and Visual Analog Scale-Fear of Falling, Berg Balance Scale, and Functional Reach Test was observed. The Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire-39 and Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale-Activities of Daily Living were achieved in both drug phases, as well. Finally, the sensitivity of FES-I to discriminate PD with and without falls showed moderate effect size in both phases.

“This study verified that FES-I is unidimensional, reliable, and valid to measure the Fear of Falling during On- and Off-drug phases in people with PD,” the researchers concluded.

—Julie Gould 

Reference

Mehdizadeh M, Martinez-Martin P, Habibi SA, et al. Reliability and Validity of Fall Efficacy Scale-International in People with Parkinson's Disease during On- and Off-Drug Phases. Parkinson’s Disease. doi: https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/6505232