Department of Medical Rehabilitation, College of Health Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi Campus, Nnewi, Anambra State, Nigeria.
Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2020 Sep 1;18(1):294. doi: 10.1186/s12955-020-01547-1.
Fear of falling (FOF) is a very pervasive problem among older adults. Consequently, many scales have been developed for its assessment. The Modified Falls Efficacy Scale (MFES) is one of the most popular FOF scales. The MFES was originally developed for use in developed countries, and thus may not be entirely suitable for use in developing countries due to cultural and environmental differences between the two country categories. This study was therefore designed to cross-culturally adapt and validate the MFES to Igbo culture and environment among community-dwelling older adults in Nnewi community using established guidelines.
The original English version of the MFES (E-MFES) was translated, synthesized, back-translated, subjected to expert panel review, and pretested before producing the final Igbo version of the MFES (I-MFES). The I-MFES and the Short Falls Efficacy Scale International were randomly administered to consecutively recruited 109 consenting older adult residents of Nnewi (43.1% males; mean age = 74.45 ± 8.78 years). Convergent and structural validities and internal consistency of the I-MFES were assessed at 0.05 level of significance.
All the 14 items on the E-MFES were retained on the I-MFES. The I-MFES exhibited the same structure as the E-MFES. The correlation between the total scores on the I-MFES and the Short Falls Efficacy Scale International was excellent (rho = - 0.93) indicating evidence of convergent validity of the I-MFES. The Cronbach's alpha value of the I-MFES was 0.97 showing evidence of excellent internal consistency of the items on the I-MFES.
This study provides evidence of some aspects of validity and reliability of the I-MFES.
跌倒恐惧（FOF）是老年人中非常普遍的问题。因此，已经开发了许多量表来评估它。改良跌倒效能量表（MFES）是最受欢迎的 FOF 量表之一。MFES 最初是为发达国家开发的，因此由于两个国家类别之间的文化和环境差异，它可能不完全适用于发展中国家。因此，本研究旨在使用既定指南，跨文化适应和验证 MFES 以适应恩诺社区的伊博文化和环境。
原始的 MFES 英文版本（E-MFES）经过翻译、综合、回译、专家小组审查，并进行预测试，然后才产生最终的伊博版本 MFES（I-MFES）。I-MFES 和短版跌倒效能国际量表随机分配给恩诺市连续招募的 109 名同意的老年居民（43.1%为男性；平均年龄=74.45±8.78 岁）。在 0.05 的显著性水平下评估 I-MFES 的收敛和结构有效性和内部一致性。
E-MFES 的所有 14 个项目都保留在 I-MFES 上。I-MFES 表现出与 E-MFES 相同的结构。I-MFES 总分与短版跌倒效能国际量表之间的相关性非常好（rho=-0.93），表明 I-MFES 的收敛有效性。I-MFES 的 Cronbach's alpha 值为 0.97，表明 I-MFES 项目具有极好的内部一致性。
本研究提供了 I-MFES 的一些有效性和可靠性方面的证据。
