Article

As a well-known measure for quantifying functional mobility in elderly
persons, Berg Balance Scale (BBS) was used in the present study to evaluate its
psychometric properties among a sample of 106 elderly individuals speaking
Persian language. METHOD: After forward-backward translation process, videotapes
were recorded from all participants while performing 14 tasks of the BBS. The
volunteers were also asked to perform the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test at the same
session. To determine inter and intra-rater reliability, the videotapes were
viewed by two experienced therapists while one of the raters assessed the
videotaped performance of the subjects on a second occasion. RESULTS: Intraclass
correlation coefficients (95% confidence interval) of 0.93 (0.87 0.96) and 0.95
(0.92 0.97) were obtained for inter and intra-rater reliability, respectively.
Cronbach's alpha was 0.62 which is marginally lower than the cut-off point of
0.70. Furthermore, there were no ceiling and floor effects for the Persian
version. In terms of construct validity, the BBS had a negative and strong
correlation with the TUG (r = -0.74, p < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS:
Acceptable levels
of intra and inter-rater reliability with a moderate internal consistency and
high validity were demonstrated for the Persian version of BBS.
Echelle

Langue : ANGLAIS