A balance screening tool for older people: Reliability and validity

Abstract

Balance screening within therapy assessments for older clients is an efficient method to assess a client's need for further balance assessment and intervention. The ‘Balance Screening Tool’ (BST), a six-task functional standing balance test, is a simple and quickly administered method of screening balance in older adults. This study aimed to determine the intra- and inter-rater reliability of the BST and to establish its concurrent validity with the Berg Balance Scale (BBS). A group of 14 falls risk assessment community care clients and a group of 16 community dwelling older adults were screened for balance impairment using both the BST and BBS. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient for intra-rater reliability was 0.90, and for inter-rater reliability was 0.89 with no significant difference between the test scores (Wilcoxon sign rank, p = 0.16). For individual items of the BST, kappa coefficients ranged from 0.64–1.00 for intra-rater reliability and 0.58–0.71 for interrater reliability. Correlation between the total BST and BBS scores were rs = -0.87 and rs = -0.92. The results suggest excellent intra-and inter-rater reliability for the BST, and excellent concurrent validity of the tool with the BBS. The BST is a valid and reliable method to quickly screen older adults for balance problems in a home or clinical setting.