ISSN 2326-7283
African Journal of Internal Medicine ISSN: 2326-7283 Vol. 13 (3), pp. 001-006, March, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Reliability of the Short Form of the Berg Balance Scale in Older Adults: A Test-Retest Study
Karthikeyan G.1, Shamim. G. Sheikh2 and Purushotham Chippala3
1Associate professor, Srinivas collage of physiotherapy and research center, Mangalore.
2Physiotherapist, Srinivas College of Physiotherapy and Research Center, Mangalore, India
3Assistant Professor, Nitte Institute of Physiotherapy, Mangalore, India.
Accepted 28 January, 2024
Falls and fall-induced injuries in elderly people are a serious public health concern in contemporary societies with aging populations. Research has shown impaired balance to be a major factor associated with falls. The Berg Balance Scale (BBS) was originally developed to assess balance performance in geriatric persons or geriatric patients. It has shown high reliability and validity, but it takes more time to complete. So to simplify and to improve its utility, SFBBS was developed which include 7 best items from original BBS. The SFBBS was found to feature psychometric properties similar to those of the original BBS. Still no reliability study has been found in elder people. So the purpose of this study is to examine the test-retest reliability of SFBBS scores among elder people. This is a cross-sectional study which includes 76 normal elder people (25 male and 51 female) of 65 years and above age. The participants were screened for the inclusion and exclusion criteria. An informed consent was taken from the participants prior to the study. SFBBS is administered twice by the same assessor initially then after the 1 week retest will be done at a same time 1+ hour of 1st occasion by the same rater. The test-retest reliability of the short form of berg balance scale was calculated using ICC values. Results shows there is a good test-retest reliability (ICC=0.95) of SFBBS in elder people. From this study we conclude that the short form of berg balance scale is a reliable test for Balance evaluation in elder population.
Keywords: Balance, Short Form of Berg Balance Scale, Test-Retest Reliability, Fall Assessment