psychometric properties of the persian version of the falls behavioral scale in seniors

Background: the identification of the causes of risky behaviors is necessary to prevent the occurrence ofinjuries and reduce its costs. the present study aimed to translate and evaluate the validity and reliabilityof the falls behavioral (fab) scale in iranian seniors.methods: this methodological study was conducted on 300 seniors aged 60 years and older referringto retirement centers. after permission, the recommended forward-backward procedure was adoptedto translate the original english version of the questionnaire. thereafter, the content, face validity, andconstruct validity of the scale were determined and taken into consideration. in addition, the known-groupscomparison (seniors with and without a history of falls), as well as convergent and divergent validity, wasused to evaluate construct validity. finally, internal consistency and the test-retest analysis were performedto assess the reliability of the fab scale.results: the results of the known-groups comparison demonstrated that the mean score of the fab scalewas higher in the seniors with a history of falls as compared to that in their counterparts without suchan experience. the obtained scores on fab scale, activities-specific balance confidence (abc) scale(r = -0.214, p < 0.01), and falls efficacy scale-international (fes-i) (r = 0.256, p < 0.01) represented asignificant correlation, confirming the construct validity of the scale. the cronbach’s alpha of the totalscale and test-retest reliability within one week were obtained as 0.71 and 0.91, respectively.conclusion: as evidenced by the results of this study, the persian version of the fab scale is a valid andreliable instrument; therefore, it can be used to assess the behavioral fall risk factors, as well as fallprevention interventions in older people. it is suggested that in future studies, researchers focus on theassessment of more psychometric properties of this scale, especially sensitivity and specificity.