Research overview
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PurposeSince fear of falling may be one of the main problems in people with Parkinson's disease (PD), its assessment with valid tools is necessary in both drug phases. This study was carried out to investigate the psychometric attributes of the Fall Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) in people with PD, both in On and Off phases.MethodsOne hundred twenty-four patients with PD (mean age ± standard deviation, 60.33 ± 12.59 years) were assessed with the FES-I, both in On- and Off-drug phases. Dimensionality, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability were, respectively, explored by means of factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha, and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient. Convergent validity of FES-I was established with Visual Analog Scale-Fear of Falling, Berg Balance Scale, and Functional Reach Test. Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire-39 and Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale-Activities of Daily Living were also applied. Discriminative validity was tested between patients with and without a history of falling.ResultsFactor analysis showed two factors for On- and one factor for Off-drug phase. Internal consistency (α = 0.96, On phase; 0.98, Off phase) and test-retest reliability (0.94; 0.91) were satisfactory in both drug phases. There was a moderate/high correlation (r S = |0.50-0.70|) between FES-I and Visual Analog Scale-Fear of Falling, Berg Balance Scale, and Functional Reach Test. Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire-39 and Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale-Activities of Daily Living were achieved in both drug phases too. The sensitivity of FES-I to discriminate Parkinson's disease with and without falls showed moderate effect size in both phases.ConclusionThis study verified that FES-I is unidimensional, reliable, and valid to measure the Fear of Falling during On- and Off-drug phases in people with PD.
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