Cross-cultural adaptation and reliability of the Functional Gait Assessment in older Brazilian adults

Abstract

Background: The Functional Gait Assessment (FGA) is a standardized instrument for assessing postural stability during various walking tasks. It was developed to increase the reliability and to decrease the potential ceiling effect observed with the Dynamic Gait Index (DGI).

Objective: To translate and cross-culturally adapt the FGA into Portuguese-Brazilian, and to evaluate its reliability in community-dwelling Brazilian older adults.

Methods: The process of translation and cross-cultural adaptation followed the recommendations of international guidelines. The pre-final version was applied to a sample of 55 older adults of both sexes living independently in the community. For the assessment of reliability (i.e. inter- and intra-rater reliability, standard error of measurement (SEM), and internal consistency), 70 older adults aged 60-87 years were evaluated.

Results: There was a conceptual equivalence between the original and the translated versions. All FGA items that used measurements in inches and feet were modified to use matching values in centimeters to reflect the measurement unit used in Brazil. The FGA-Brazil showed excellent inter- and intra-rater reliability (ICC2,1 > 0.90), low SEM (ranging from 1.03 to 1.52), and good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.858).

Conclusion: The FGA-Brazil is a semantically and linguistically valid and reliable instrument to assess walking balance among community-dwelling older adults.

Keywords: Cultural adaptation; Gait; Older adults; Postural balance; Rehabilitation; Reliability.

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