A quick balance assessment tool for all clinical settings: validity and reliability of the Hungarian version of the activities-specific balance confidence scale.

Background: The Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale was developed for testing the balance confidence of elderly individuals, and it has been used extensively for evaluating various patients. No such scale has been adapted for the Hungarian population.

Objective: To translate and culturally adapt the Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale and test the reliability and validity of the Hungarian version.

Methods: The study included 167 independently mobile subjects, of whom 39 filled in the questionnaire twice, 1 week apart. Beaton's six-step principle was applied for cross-cultural adaptation. Reliability was assessed by internal consistency measured by Cronbach's alpha and through test-retest analysis. Types of validity evaluated were concurrent validity using the Berg Balance Scale and cross-cultural validity.

Results: Excellent internal consistency was shown by Cronbach's alpha = 0.977. Test-retest analysis resulted in an Intra-Class Correlation Coefficient of 0.962 (0.865-0.961, 95% CI, p < .001) for the whole test; no floor or ceiling effects were found. The convergent validity of the scale was tested by Spearman's rank correlation analysis using the Berg Balance scale for external validation and showed a strong positive correlation (Rho = 0.755, p < .001). Receiver Operating Characteristic curve analysis showed an Area Under the Curve of 0.821 (CI 95% 0.75, 0.892). Mean detectable change based on the 95% confidence interval was 10.49% on the scale ranging from 0 to 100%.

Conclusions: The Hungarian version of the Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale provides a valid and reliable picture of the patients' self-assessed balance. It is recommended both for clinicians and for clinical studies.