Construction and validation of content of one instrument to assess falls in the elderly

ABSTRACT Objective To develop and validate the content of the online Questionnaire for Fall Risk Assessment in the Elderly. Methods The instrument was developed based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) of the World Health Organization. Initially, the set of items was submitted to evaluation of judges (healthcare professionals with experience in elderly health), who could suggest inclusion or exclusion of questions from the instrument; they were also asked to rate each question according to the expected scope. At this stage, clarity and relevance levels for each item were evaluated, generating a total of Content Validity Coefficient (CtVC). Results Content Validity Coefficient values were satisfactory for both clarity (CtVC=0.76) and relevance (CtVC=0.82) of the questions. Next, a group of elderly volunteers participating in a socializing group evaluated the questionnaire for comprehension. The level of comprehension for each item was identified on a Likert scale, ranging from 0 to 5. The questionnaire was considered easy to understand by most participants (95%), with a mean of 4.75 (±0.11) points for each item. Conclusion The instrument showed acceptable psychometric qualities for screening fall risk among the elderly population. Future studies shall investigate different validation aspects of construct for this measure.

摘要 研究目的：研制并验证老年人跌倒风险评估在线问卷（Questionnaire for Fall Risk Assessment in the Elderly）的内容效度。
方法：本问卷以世界卫生组织（World Health Organization）的国际功能、残疾和健康分类（International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health，ICF）为研制依据。初始阶段，研究团队将条目池提交给老年健康领域具有丰富经验的医疗卫生专业评审组，评审人员可对问卷条目提出增删建议，并依据预期应用范围对每条条目进行评分。本阶段需评估各条目清晰度与相关性水平，最终计算得到内容效度系数（Content Validity Coefficient，CtVC）。
结果：问卷条目清晰度（CtVC=0.76）与相关性（CtVC=0.82）的内容效度系数均符合满意标准。随后，招募参与社交团体的老年志愿者对问卷的易懂性进行评估，采用0~5分李克特量表对各条目理解度进行评分。绝大多数参与者（95%）认为该问卷易于理解，单一条目平均得分为4.75（±0.11）分。
结论：本问卷用于老年人群跌倒风险筛查时，展现出可接受的心理测量学性能。未来可针对该量表的结构效度等多项验证维度开展进一步研究。