title: The interrater and test-retest reliability of the Home Falls and Accidents Screening Tool (HOME FAST) in Malaysia: Using raters with a range of professional backgrounds.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Falls can be a devastating issue for older people living in the community, including those living in Malaysia. Health professionals and community members have a responsibility to ensure that older people have a safe home environment to reduce the risk of falls. Using a standardised screening tool is beneficial to intervene early with this group. The Home Falls and Accidents Screening Tool (HOME FAST) should be considered for this purpose; however, its use in Malaysia has not been studied. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the interrater and test-retest reliability of the HOME FAST with multiple professionals in the Malaysian context.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional design was used to evaluate interrater reliability where the HOME FAST was used simultaneously in the homes of older people by 2 raters and a prospective design was used to evaluate test-retest reliability with a separate group of older people at different times in their homes. Both studies took place in an urban area of Kuala Lumpur.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Professionals from 9 professional backgrounds participated as raters in this study, and a group of 51 community older people were recruited for the interrater reliability study and another group of 30 for the test-retest reliability study. The overall agreement was moderate for interrater reliability and good for test-retest reliability. The HOME FAST was consistently rated by different professionals, and no bias was found among the multiple raters.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The HOME FAST can be used with confidence by a variety of professionals across different settings. The HOME FAST can become a universal tool to screen for home hazards related to falls.
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Occupational Therapy, University of Sydney, Lidcombe, NSW, Australia.|Department of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Muhammad Hibatullah
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Romli
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Discipline of Occupational Therapy, University of Sydney, Lidcombe, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Lynette
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mackenzie
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Discipline of Occupational Therapy, University of Sydney, Lidcombe, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Meryl
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lovarini
authors.affiliation: Ageing and Age Associated Disorders Research Group, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Maw Pin
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Discipline of Occupational Therapy, University of Sydney, Lidcombe, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Lindy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Clemson
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000061:Accidents, Home / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D015588:Observer Variation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment
keywords: aged; falls; health promotion; home hazards; multidisciplinary; psychometric