Abstract

RODRIGUEZ GUEVARA, Camila  and  LUGO, Luz Helena. Validity and reliability of Tinetti Scale for Colombian people. Rev.Colomb.Reumatol. [online]. 2012, vol.19, n.4, pp.218-233. ISSN 0121-8123.

Introduction: Falls are the fourth most prevalent geriatric syndrome which diminishes body functionality and increases morbidity, mortality, and early admission to nursing homes. Gait and postural balance alterations are the main generating factors with Risk Relative from 1.9 to 6-6 and from 1.2 to 2.2 respectively. The Tinetti Balance and Gait Assessment Scale has proved to be a valid and reliable tool to evaluate mobility (r 0.74 - 0.93) and also has high inter-observer reliability (0.95). Objective: To validate the Tinetti Scale for its use in Colombian population, starting from its original version. Materials and Methods: The Spanish version of the Tinetti Scale was applied by two evaluators to 90 elderly persons with different degrees of gait and balance functionality. All of the evaluated live in nursing homes located three in Medellin and two municipalities of the Aburrá Valley. Subsequently performed the statistical process of validation and reliability. Results: The content validity suggests the re-structuring of the items in the domain of equilibrium with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.948 and a variance of 13,894, in the construct validity, 46 of the 48 responses of the scale differences statistically significant in the ability to detect changes in a group without alterations in gait and balance (healthy) and a group with these conditions (sick); the concurrent validity had a high correlation r = -0.82 with Timed up and go. The inter and intra- rater reliability was between 0.4 to 0.6 and 0.6 to 0.8, respectively. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.91. Conclusions: The Tinetti Scale is valid and reliable for its use in Colombian population. Exploratory analysis of the validity of content suggests a restructuring of the scale items in one domain, since it represents a larger number of factors.

Keywords : Elderly people; Falls; Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment (POMA); Reliability; Validity.

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