Reliability and Validity of Korean Version of Falls Efficacy Scale-International (KFES-I)

Objective: To develop and validate the Korea version of falls efficacy scale-international (KFES-I) in Korean elderly which was developed to assess fear of falling in older people and have been already validated in some European countries. Method: Surveys of 385 older persons from the public health center in Korea based on KFES-I and fall questionnaire such as presence, frequency of fracture within last 6 months, and combined medical illness were taken. KFES-I was composed with 16 items of activities of daily living including social activities and graded from 1 to 4 in each item. Two-week KFES-I re-test data were collected. Reliability and validity estimates were computed as well as KFES-I sum scores according to age, sex, and falls history. Results: Cronbach's alpha was 0.971 and mean inter-item correlation was 0.665. Test-retest Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.960 (p