title: Cross-cultural validation of the Falls Efficacy Scale International (FES-I) in Greek community-dwelling older adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The cross-cultural adaptation and validation of Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) in community-dwelling seniors in Greece.
  
  
  METHODS
  For cross-cultural adaptation, the back-translation procedure was utilised by four bi-lingual translators. For validation, 89 community-dwellings (50 males, 39 females) aged 61-90 years old (mean: 72.87 ± 6.04) completed four questionnaires adapted into Greek; two instrument specific ones, FES-I and Confidence in Maintaining Balance (CONFbal), and two generic Questionnaires, Short-form Health Survey (SF-36v2) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ30). Additionally, three functional/balance tests were compared against the FES-I. All questionnaires and measurements were repeated after 7-10 days to explore repeatability.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Content validity was achieved as all participants found the questionnaire appropriate and comprehensible. Validity of the FES-I yielded moderate to strong correlations with CONFbal (r = 0.694, p<0.01), three SF-36 subscales (r ranging between 0.560 and 6.55, p<0.01), GHQ30 (r = 0.584, p<0.01) and one functional test (r = 0.638, p<0.01 for Timed Up and Go test). FES-I's test-retest reliability (ICC:0.951, SEM: 1.79, SDD:20.44%, r = 0.950) and internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.925) were excellent, and responsiveness across fallers and non-fallers yielded a large effect size (0.89), indicating good discriminant validity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Greek FES-I was valid, reliable, comprehensible and acceptable for the sample tested and may thus, be used in cross-cultural rehabilitation research and practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, Technological Educational Institute of Patras, Branch Department of Aigion, Aigion, Greece. ebillis@teipat.gr
authors.forename: Evdokia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Billis
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Strimpakos
authors.forename: Eleni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kapreli
authors.forename: Vasiliki
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sakellari
authors.forename: Dawn A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Skelton
authors.forename: Ismene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dontas
authors.forename: Frini
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ioannou
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Filon
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gioftsos
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006115:Greece; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014175:Translating