Reliability and Validity of the Spanish Version of the Brief-BESTest in Stroke Patients

Background: Balance disorders and postural control treatments play an important role in fall prevention. The Brief-BESTest is a short-scale employed to evaluate balance and fall risk in different populations. Balance assessment is a fundamental element in patients with Acquired Brain Injury rehabilitation since postural alteration is one of the most frequent sequelae. The objective was to validate the Spanish version of the Brief-BESTest questionnaire in the stroke population. Methods: Subjects of both sexes aged over 18 years with a diagnosis of acute/chronic stroke were included. The BESTest, Mini-BESTest, Brief-BESTest, Berg Balance Scale, and Timed Up & Go Test were used to assess balance. The scales were implemented once. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to assess the internal consistency and confirmatory factorial analysis was employed to assess validity. Results: A total of 44 patients with a mean age of 65.35 years (SD = 10.665) participated. Cronbach's alpha coefficient showed a high internal consistency with a value of 0.839. In the criterion validity, there was a high positive correlation between the Brief-BESTest and BESTest (r = 0.879), Mini-BESTest (r = 0.808), and Berg Balance Scale (r = 0.711). Conclusion: The Spanish version of the Brief-BESTest scale is valid and reliable, showing adequate psychometric properties for balance assessment in patients with acute or chronic stroke.