Research Paper: The Psychometric Properties of Falls Efficacy Scale in the Elderly Iranian Residents of Nursing Homes

Objectives: The elderly residents of nursing homes experience falling at least once a year. The fear of falling influences the quality of life and causes limitations in their daily living activities. Therefore, this study aimed to translate the Falls Efficacy Scale (FES) and investigate its validity and reliability in the elderly Iranian residents of nursing homes. Methods: The current methodological study was conducted on 100 healthy 60-87 years older adults in Tehran City, Iran. The subjects were selected by convenience sampling method. The translation was conducted using forward-backward procedure. The face and content validities of the scale were determined by impact score, Content Validity Index (CVI), and Content Validity Ratio (CVR). We established the construct validity by Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), applying principal component analysis by varimax rotation. The scale’s convergent validity was examined using the Spearman correlation coefficient with the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) and Single Item Question (SIQ). Cronbach's α and Intra-Class Correlation (ICC) were calculated to investigate the scale’s internal consistency and test-retest reliability. There were 4-7 days of interval for assessing the test-retest reliability. Results: The CVR and CVI of all items were greater than 0.57 and 0.79, respectively. The obtained results suggested an impact score higher than 1.5 for each item. The EFA results indicated two factors in the FES. Convergent validity revealed very high to high correlation between the FES and FES-I (rho=0.92, P<0.0001), and SIQ (rho=0.72, P<0.0001). Excellent internal consistency (α=0.95) and test-retest reliability (ICC=0.98) were reported for the scale. Discussion: The obtained results indicated that the original version of FES was a reliable and valid tool for assessing the fear of falling among the elderly residents of nursing homes.