TRANSLATION OF THE ACTIVITY SPECIFIC BALANCE CONFIDENCE – H SCALE FOR GUJARATI POPULATION

J. Jeevrajani¹, M. Sheth²

¹Post Graduate Student at SBB College of Physiotherapy, Ahmedabad, India, ²Lecturer at SBB College of Physiotherapy, Community Health, Geriatrics, Ahmedabad, India

Background: Falls are a common incidence in the elderly. Falls cause 20%-30% of all injuries and 50% of all injury-related hospitalizations in this age group. Even if a fall does not result in serious injury, it has an impact on a person's confidence, and participation in activities as well as their overall well-being. Thus, there is a need to assess falls, fall risk, balance, and confidence concerning falls. Balance can be measured objectively using the Functional Reach Test, Timed Up and Go Test, and the Short Physical Performance Battery, as well as based on performance using the Berg Balance Scale, and Fall Efficacy Scale, which measure fear of falling. The Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC) is a self-report scale that measures balance confidence in performing different activities without losing balance or feeling unsteady. The scale was developed in English and has since been translated and adapted into French Canadian, Chinese, Dutch, German, Korean, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, and Hindi. The Indian version for the Hindi-speaking population that is ABC-H scale had excellent test-retest reliability (ICC=0.97) and concurrent validity (r =-0.85,p=0.0001). Gujarati is the official language of the state of Gujarat, India which is spoken by more than55 million people worldwide. Out of the total population of Gujarat, 8.3% are 60 years and above.

Purpose: To translate the Activities Specific Balance Confidence – H scale into Gujarati and determine inter and intra-rater reliability.

Methods: Permission to translate the scale was taken from the author. The Activity Specific Balance Confidence - H Scale was translated into Gujarati using the forward and backward translation method given by WHO. The forward translation into Gujarati was done by a Gujarati professor such as to preserve the meaning of the questions in the original questionnaire. An expert panel of six experts determined the face validity. Their mean age was (40.67±3.05) years and mean experience was (14.5±2.88) years. Following their suggestions, we made a validated Gujarati version 1. The scale was translated back to English by an independent translator, whose mother tongue was English. The version 1 of the Gujarati ABC-H scale was pilot tested with five older adults with mean age of 71.6 ± 2.73 years to determine its fluency, clarity, and to ensure that responses were correctly understood. They found the instructions and items to be simple to read and comprehend. Few suggestions given by them were done. Final version 2 was given to 20 participants (73.38±8.42)years to find reliability. Two therapists performed the scale on same participant for inter-rater reliability, one therapist performed scale twice on the same participant for intra-rater reliability, both with a one-day gap. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0.

Results: There is a strong positive correlation between ABC - H version and Gujarati version with intraclass reliability of (ICC= 0.96), and interclass reliability of (ICC=0.95).

Conclusions: The valid and reliable Gujarati version of ABC-H can be used for assessing balance confidence in Gujarati-speaking, community-dwelling Indian older adults.

Implications: Clinical management and research will benefit from the availability of a self-administered scale in native language.

Funding acknowledgements: None

Keywords:
Balance confidence
Geriatric population
Gujarati

Topics:
Older people
Health promotion & wellbeing/healthy ageing/physical activity

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: SBB college of Physiotherapy, Gujarat University

Committee: SBB Institutional Review Board

Ethics number: PTC/IEC 27-2022-23