The cross-cultural adaptation and factor analysis of the Turkish version of Iconographical Falls Efficacy Scale Long...

Iconographical Falls Efficacy Scale (Icon-FES) is the first visual scale for fear of falling. Unlike the others, Icon-FES, including 30 items offers a unique perspective to assess the fear of falling by providing more precise contexts.

The study aimed to introduce the 30-item Icon-FES, the first visual content fear of falling scale, into Turkish and to explore its psychometric properties.

First, the Turkish language validity of Icon-FES was ensured by following the forward-backward translation protocol. A total of 150 older adults independent in their daily living activities were included in the study. Falls Efficacy Scale International (FES-I) and Activities Specific Balance and Confidence Scale (ABC), which are frequently preferred in the literature for the same purpose, were used to provide the criterion validity of the scale. The exploratory factor analysis method was utilised for the construct validity of the scale.

Factor analysis revealed a two-factor structure. 52.22% of the total variance was explained with single-factor analysis. In the criterion validity analysis, while there was a strong positive correlation between Icon-FES and FES-I (r = 0.910, p < 0.01), a strong negative correlation was found between Icon-FES and ABC (r = -0.887, p < 0.01). The Cronbach Alpha value for the internal consistency of the scale was calculated as 0.965. The intraclass correlation coefficient between two measurements performed one-week interval was found to be 0.985 (p < 0.001).

The study showed that Icon-FES is a valid, reliable and rapid result assessment tool for community-dwelling older adults without cognitive dysfunction.