Open AccessItem Distribution in the Berg Balance Scale: A Problem for Use With Community-Living Older Adults
Author(s) -
Han Chen,
Susan Smith
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of geriatric physical therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.185
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 2152-0895
pISSN - 1539-8412
DOI - 10.1519/jpt.0000000000000208
Subject(s) - berg balance scale , gerontology , scale (ratio) , balance (ability) , psychology , geography , physical medicine and rehabilitation , medicine , cartography
The Berg Balance Scale (BBS) is a commonly used clinical test measure to determine balance performance and fall risk. However, a ceiling effect of the BBS has been reported in studies of older adults with relatively higher levels of physical performance. The underlying reason for this ceiling effect may be that the task items in the BBS are insufficiently challenging to discriminate individuals with less severe balance limitations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the unidimensional construct, item difficulty hierarchy, and item distribution of the BBS in order to determine its usefulness among community-living older adults (CLOAs).