Concerns about falling in wheelchair users with spinal cord injury—validation of the Swedish version of the spinal cord injury falls concern scale

Abstract

Objective: Translation of the Spinal Cord Injury Falls Concern Scale (SCI-FCS); validation and investigation of psychometric properties. Design: Translation, adaptation and validation study. Subjects/patients: Eighty-seven wheelchair users with chronic SCI attending follow-up at Rehab Station Stockholm/Spinalis, Sweden. Methods: The SCI-FCS was translated to Swedish and culturally adapted according to guidelines. Construct validity was examined with the Mann-Whitney U-test, and psychometric properties with factor and Rasch analysis. Results: Participants generally reported low levels of concerns about falling. Participants with higher SCI-FCS scores also reported fear of falling, had been injured for a shorter time, reported symptoms of depression, anxiety and fatigue, and were unable to get up from the ground independently. Falls with or without injury the previous year, age, level of injury, sex and sitting balance did not differentiate the level of SCI-FCS score. The median SCI-FCS score was 21 (range 16-64). Cronbachs alpha (0.95), factor and Rasch analysis showed similar results of the Swedish as of the original version. Conclusion: The Swedish SCI-FCS showed high internal consistency and similar measurement properties and structure as the original version. It showed discriminant ability for fear of falling, time since injury, symptoms of depression or anxiety, fatigue and ability to get up from the ground but not for age, gender or falls. Persons with shorter time since injury, psychological concerns, fatigue and decreased mobility were more concerned about falling. In a clinical setting, the SCI-FCS might help identifying issues to address to reduce the concerns about falling.

Impact of Falls and Fear of Falling on Participation, Autonomy and Life Satisfaction in the First Year After Spinal Cord Injury

“…First, we did not include measures of depression or anxiety in this study, which is a notable limitation. Depression and anxiety were previously found to be associated with a fear of falling in individuals with SCI who use a wheelchair ( 54 ). Second, 11 (15%) of our participants were lost to follow-up, which was more than the 10% we estimated.…”

Online self-management fall prevention intervention for people with multiple sclerosis: a feasibility study protocol of a parallel group randomised trial

“…Outcome measures, collected at baseline and follow-ups seven and 18 weeks after the start of the intervention/control period, will include data on fall prevention behaviours assessed by the Fall Prevention Strategies Survey 33 ; a direct measure of fear of falling 34 ; falls self-efficacy assessed by the Short Falls Efficacy Scale-International 35 (ambulatory participants) and the Spinal Cord Injury Fall Concern Scale 36 (non-ambulatory participants); social and everyday activities assessed by the Frenchay Activities Index 37 ; perceived impact of MS assessed by the Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale 38 and falls. Falls will be monitored from baseline to the 18-week follow-up via an online short message service (SMS)/fall diary and interview.…”

Coping Strategies of Disabled People in Residential Environments after Injury Events

“…However, the magnitude of each of these factors varies from older individual to older individual’ (Bamzar, 2017, p. 26). Another study focused on injuries sustained by wheelchair users with spinal cord injury (Butler Forslund, 2017), while yet another focused on actively adjusting to changed living conditions about women with chronically reduced physical abilities (Prack, 2017).…”