Physiotherapy theory and practice
-
Physiother Theory Pract · Oct 2011
Development, reliability, and validity of the Sitting Balance Scale.
The Sitting Balance Scale (SBS) measures sitting balance for frail older adults who are primarily nonambulatory. Purposes were to generate items representing different functional abilities of sitting balance, reduce the number of items to make a clinically useful tool, refine the assessment, and establish reliability and validity. The study was conducted in multiple phases, with qualitative and quantitative methodologies. ⋯ The SBS can be used to assess sitting balance in frail individuals who are primarily nonambulatory who might exhibit floor effects for traditionally used balance measures. The SBS is the first attempt to assess lower balance abilities. Further assessment of the tool's validity with larger and varied samples is necessary.