Construction and validation of content of one instrument to assess falls in the elderly

To develop and validate the content of the online Questionnaire for Fall Risk Assessment in the Elderly.

The instrument was developed based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) of the World Health Organization. Initially, the set of items was submitted to evaluation of judges (healthcare professionals with experience in elderly health), who could suggest inclusion or exclusion of questions from the instrument; they were also asked to rate each question according to the expected scope. At this stage, clarity and relevance levels for each item were evaluated, generating a total of Content Validity Coefficient (CtVC).

Content Validity Coefficient values were satisfactory for both clarity (CtVC=0.76) and relevance (CtVC=0.82) of the questions. Next, a group of elderly volunteers participating in a socializing group evaluated the questionnaire for comprehension. The level of comprehension for each item was identified on a Likert scale, ranging from 0 to 5. The questionnaire was considered easy to understand by most participants (95%), with a mean of 4.75 (±0.11) points for each item.

The instrument showed acceptable psychometric qualities for screening fall risk among the elderly population. Future studies shall investigate different validation aspects of construct for this measure.