The inter-rater and test-retest reliability of the Home Falls and Accidents Screening Tool. 2012

Tuong-Vi Vu, and Lynette Mackenzie
Occupational Therapy, Specialist Mental Health Services for Older People, Braeside Hospital, Prairiewood, NSW, Australia.

OBJECTIVE The Home Falls and Accidents Screening Tool was developed to assist health professionals to identify falls risk among community-dwelling older people arising from their home environment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the Home Falls and Accidents Screening Tool by examining its inter-rater and test-retest reliability. METHODS Community-dwelling older people, over the age of 65 (n = 31) were recruited from the caseload of nine occupational therapists across three area health services in Sydney and the Hunter region. A total of 31 home visits were conducted by the researcher and an occupational therapist to independently administer the Home Falls and Accidents Screening Tool. Follow-up visits were then conducted within a two-week period by one of the raters to re-administer the Home Falls and Accidents Screening Tool. Reliability was evaluated using percentage agreement, intra-class correlations and kappa coefficients. RESULTS The intra-class correlation coefficient for the Home Falls and Accidents Screening Tool overall score was 0.82 (95% CI, 0.66-0.91) for inter-rater reliability and 0.77 (95% CI, 0.57-0.88) for test-retest reliability, indicating a good level of reliability for the tool. 'Undefined stair edges' was the only item that demonstrated poor inter-rater reliability (kappa = 0.37). All items except 'loose mats' (kappa = 0.19) reached acceptable or excellent levels of test-retest reliability with kappa scores greater than 0.40. CONCLUSIONS The Home Falls and Accidents Screening Tool demonstrated consistency across raters and across different time periods. Further studies into the reliability of the Home Falls and Accidents Screening Tool would benefit from sampling raters from varying professional backgrounds and older people with higher levels of function.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D008403 Mass Screening Organized periodic procedures performed on large groups of people for the purpose of detecting disease. Screening,Mass Screenings,Screening, Mass,Screenings,Screenings, Mass
D009517 New South Wales A state in southeastern Australia. Its capital is Sydney. It was discovered by Captain Cook in 1770 and first settled at Botany Bay by marines and convicts in 1788. It was named by Captain Cook who thought its coastline resembled that of South Wales. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p840 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p377)
D011594 Psychometrics Assessment of psychological variables by the application of mathematical procedures. Psychometric
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000058 Accidental Falls Falls due to slipping or tripping which may result in injury. Falls, Accidental,Falling,Falls,Slip and Fall,Accidental Fall,Fall and Slip,Fall, Accidental
D000061 Accidents, Home ACCIDENTS which occur within the home. Home Accidents,Accident, Home,Home Accident
D000368 Aged A person 65 years of age or older. For a person older than 79 years, AGED, 80 AND OVER is available. Elderly
D012307 Risk Factors An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, environmental exposure, inborn or inherited characteristic, which, based on epidemiological evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition considered important to prevent. Health Correlates,Risk Factor Scores,Risk Scores,Social Risk Factors,Population at Risk,Populations at Risk,Correlates, Health,Factor, Risk,Factor, Social Risk,Factors, Social Risk,Risk Factor,Risk Factor Score,Risk Factor, Social,Risk Factors, Social,Risk Score,Score, Risk,Score, Risk Factor,Social Risk Factor

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