Cross-cultural adaptation, validity, and reliability of fall risk questionnaire in to Amharic language.

Background: The fall risk questionnaire (FRQ) is a proficient older adult's fall risk level assessment scale. It assists in identifying individuals at risk, developing prevention mechanisms early, and reducing the chance of injury. It is evidenced that age, literacies, and distinct cultural background determine the validity and reliability of the scale. Nevertheless, there is no valid and reliable fall risk measurement scale for Ethiopian older adults so far. Therefore, the overarching aim of this study is to translate, cross-culturally adapt, and evaluate the validity and reliability of the fall risk questionnaire in the Amharic language.

Methods: The translated and cross-culturally adapted FRQ was pre-tested through cognitive interview to provide an Amharic version of FRQ (FRQ-AM), and then its content validity was assessed. The construct validity and reliability of the FRQ-AM were scrutinized by a community-based study with a total of 340 older adults selected by systematic random sampling technique. Epi-Info 7 and SPSS version 25 were applied for the data entry and analysis, respectively. The principal component analysis method, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO), Bartlett's test, and factor loading were checked as pre-requisites for factor analysis. The construct validity was examined by average variance extracted (AVE), factor loading, and composite reliability (CR). Chronbach's alpha and CR were included to evaluate the reliability.

Result: The results of KMO, Bartlet's test, and factor loading were 0.705, p < 0.005, and > 0.5, respectively. The principal component analysis with varimax rotation yields four domains, which together explain 50.491% of the total variance. The Chrobach's alpha and CR were 0.56 and 0.78, respectively. The value of AVE, factor loading, and CR of all factors were > 0.5, which shows that convergent validity was evidenced. The square root of AVEs was above the inter-factor correlation value, which indicates that discriminant validity was met.

Conclusion: The rigorous translation process, pre-testing, content, and construct validity demonstrated that the Amharic FRQ is a valid and reliable tool to assess fall risk level in this population. Clinicians and researchers can utilize this tool for the advancement of fall screening and research purposes.