Construct Validity and Test-Retest Reliability of Survey of Activities and Fear of Falling in the Elderly Among Iranian Patients With Parkinson Disease

Fear of falling (FOF) is highly common in people with Parkinson disease (PD). Fear of frequent falling arises from risk factors in PD.

One of the most common tools used to measure FOF in patients with PD is the survey of activities and fear of falling in the elderly (SAFFE), but no studies have been conducted on its reliability and validity in Iran. The current study attempted to examine the construct validity and test-retest reliability of SAFFE among Iranian patients with PD.
Patients and

The study included a total of 71 patients with PD, among whom 61 (55.4%) were male and 10 were female. The construct validity was evaluated through the Persian version of SAFFE self-report scale using activities-specific balance confidence (ABC) scale where the correlation between the two scales was assessed using the Pearson test. The test-retest reliability was evaluated through intra-class correlation (ICC), standard errors of measurement (SEM) and minimum detectable change (MDC).

The correlation between ABC scale and Persian version of SAFFE scale was desirable (r = -0.87 and P < 0.0001). According to the statistical results, it can be argued that the correlation between SAFFE scale test-retest scores with those of relative and absolute correlation coefficients were ICC = 0.96 and SEM = 0.16 respectively, which represent great reliability of the scale.

The Persian version of SAFFE has adequate construct validity and test-retest reliability and is an ideal tool to measure FOF in the patients.