Agreement and participants’ preferences comparing: self-rated falls risk questionnaire (FRQ) and activities-specific balance confidence (ABC) scale in community-dwelling older adults using the Bland–Altman method

Abstract

Purpose

Screening for fall risks is an important part of fall and fracture prevention. This study aims to investigate cross-sectional inter-instrumental agreement and participants’ preferences of the self-rated Falls Risk Questionnaire (FRQ) and Activities Specific Balance Confidence 6 items (ABC-6). This study also aimed to compare FRQ and ABC-6 scores in older adults with and without a history of falls.

Design/methodology/approach

Through an online and snowball sampling survey, 114 respondents were recruited from six countries. Respondents were asked to perform FRQ and ABC-6 surveys.

Findings

The mean respondent age was 67 years, and 44.8% reported falls in the past year. The mean of rescored FRQ and ABC-6 scores were 68.6% and 66.2%, respectively. The FRQ and ABC-6 scores for fallers were lower than non-fallers. Bland and Altman’s method indicated the mean −2.6 and two standard deviations 20.9 differences between ABC-6 and FRQ, which means an overall agreement between these tools. Most of the respondents, 36% had no preference between ABC-6 and FRQ, 34% preferred none, 21% preferred the ABC-6 and 9% preferred the FRQ for screening future falls risk.

Originality/value

Both ABC-6 and FRQ can distinguish between fallers and non-fallers, and findings of this study can be used to support the use of the FRQ for falls screening in older adults.

Citation

Kooshiar, H., MacDermid, J.C., Walton, D.M. and Grewal, R. (2022), "Agreement and participants’ preferences comparing: self-rated falls risk questionnaire (FRQ) and activities-specific balance confidence (ABC) scale in community-dwelling older adults using the Bland–Altman method", Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp. 85-98. https://doi.org/10.1108/QAOA-03-2022-0020