title: Interobserver reproducibility of the Berg Balance Scale by novice and experienced physiotherapists.
abstract: This study aimed to assess the interobserver reliability of the Brazilian-Portuguese version of the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), which consists of 14 items that evaluate body balance during daily activities. The assessment was made by physiotherapists with extensive or little clinical experience in noninstitutionalized elderly individuals. Participants comprised 12 elderly subjects (10 women and 2 men) with mean ages of 75.8+/-8.4 years (range=63-87) and 18 physiotherapists with varying clinical experience. Interexaminer reliability obtained for each scale item yielded weighted kappa value >0.75 in 11 of the 14 items (varying from 0.37 to 1.0). The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for the total sum of BBS scores between the two groups of physiotherapists was 0.996 (95% confidence interval, 0.987-0.999) with a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.996. We found no statistically significant difference between the rater groups when we compared the sum score means obtained with Student's t-test (p=0.86). Although some items had low reliability values, in general our results suggest that the Brazilian-Portuguese version of the BBS showed acceptable levels of interrater reliability and agreement when used by physiotherapists with different clinical practice levels and without previous training on noninstitutionalized elderly patients.
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences-PPGCSA, Movement and Health Research Base, Department of Physical Therapy, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
authors.forename: Karyna Myrelly Oliveira Bezerra
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: de Figueiredo
authors.forename: Kenio Costa
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: de Lima
authors.forename: Alvaro Campos
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Cavalcanti Maciel
authors.forename: Ricardo Oliveira
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Guerra
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001938:Brazil; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D026761:Physical Therapy Specialty; D004856:Postural Balance; D012047:Rehabilitation Centers; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D000078329:Workforce