Psychometric properties of the Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale in persons 0-14 days and 3 months post stroke

Purpose: To test the internal consistency and validity of a Swedish translation of the Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC) 0-14 days and 3 months post stroke. Method: 37 persons were tested at 0-14 days (median 5 days) post stroke and 31 were retested 3 months later (median 87 days). In addition to the ABC, the Functional Ambulation Categories, modified Rivermead Mobility Index, timed up and go test, 10-meter timed walk, SF-36 and the 12-item Walking Scale were used. Results: The internal consistency was high at a = 0.94 to 0.97. Kendall correlation-tau coefficients were moderate and varied somewhat depending on time poststroke. At 0-14 days post stroke the highest correlation was found between the ABC and the 12-item Walking Scale (-0.55, p < 0.01). At 3 months poststroke, the correlations with the Functional Ambulation Categories was 0.49 (p < 0.01), timed up and go test -0.43 (p < 0.01), 10-meter timed walk -0.41 (p < 0.01), and modified Rivermead Mobility Index 0.46 (p < 0.01). Divergent validity was established by the nonsignificant correlation (0.12) between the ABC and SF-36 mental component summary. Conclusions: The Swedish version of ABC has high internal consistency and is valid for measuring balance confidence in the acute and sub acute phases of stroke.