SynthesisBMC geriatrics2021
Falls efficacy instruments for community-dwelling older adults: a COSMIN-based systematic review.
Synthesis in BMC geriatrics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Measurement properties of the Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) scale in community-dwelling adults aged 50 years and older: a COSMIN systematic review.Journal of patient-reported outcomes · 2026Pooled it
- Falls risk perception measures in hospital: a COSMIN systematic review.Journal of patient-reported outcomes · 2023Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the measurement properties of concerns-about-falling instruments in older people and people at increased risk of falls.Age and ageing · 2023Pooled it
- Trial
- The Effect of Periodic Assessments and Verbal Feedback on Physical Function and Adherence in Healthy Adults Aged ≥65: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2026Article
- Effects of Systemic Vibratory Therapy Combined with a Physical Activity Program in Older Adults on Fall Risk, Balance, Physical Conditioning, and Neuromuscular Variables: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Adaptive or Maladaptive Fear of Falling in Multiple Sclerosis: What Are We Overlooking?Journal of frailty, sarcopenia and falls · 2026Article
- Analysis of latent profiles and influencing factors of fall risk perception in elderly patients with hip fracture.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Development of a short-form balance recovery confidence (SF-BRC) scale.Journal of clinical and translational science · 2026Article
- Neuromotor frailty phenotype and fall risk in geriatrics with knee osteoarthritis: a cross-sectional analysis of physical therapy performance and psychometric outcomes.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Development and Initial Validation of a Brief Multidimensional Falls Efficacy Scale.Journal of frailty, sarcopenia and falls · 2025Article
- Enhancing Self-Efficacy Through Robotic Safety Support in Balance-Challenging Reach Tasks: Feasibility Study in Young Adults.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologies · 2025Article
- Convergent and predictive validity of the activities-specific balance confidence scales and balance recovery confidence scale, with regard to the falls efficacy scale-international: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in aging · 2025Article
- Review
- Interventions and measurement instruments used for falls efficacy in community-dwelling older adults: A systematic review.Journal of frailty, sarcopenia and falls · 2022Review
- Health-Related Physical Fitness as a Risk Factor for Falls in Elderly People Living in the Community: A Prospective Study in China.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Falls efficacy: The self-efficacy concept for falls prevention and management.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Measures of falls efficacy, balance confidence, or balance recovery confidence for perturbation-based balance training.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2022Article
- Falls efficacy: Extending the understanding of self-efficacy in older adults towards managing falls.Journal of frailty, sarcopenia and falls · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFalls efficacy is a widely-studied latent construct in community-dwelling older adults. Various self-reported instruments have been used to measure falls efficacy. In order to be informed of the choice of the best measurement instrument for a specific purpose, empirical evidence of the development and measurement properties of falls efficacy related instruments is needed.
methodsThe Consensus-based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Intruments (COSMIN) checklist was used to summarise evidence on the development, content validity, and structural validity of instruments measuring falls efficacy in community-dwelling older adults. Databases including MEDLINE, Web of Science, PsychINFO, SCOPUS, CINAHL were searched (May 2019). Records on the development of instruments and studies assessing content validity or structural validity of falls efficacy related scales were included. COSMIN methodology was used to guide the review of eligible studies and in the assessment of their methodological quality. Evidence of content validity: relevance, comprehensiveness and comprehensibility and unidimensionality for structural validity were synthesised. A modified GRADE approach was applied to evidence synthesis.
resultsThirty-five studies, of which 18 instruments had been identified, were included in the review. High-quality evidence showed that the Modified Falls Efficacy Scale (FES)-13 items (MFES-13) has sufficient relevance, yet insufficient comprehensiveness for measuring falls efficacy. Moderate quality evidence supported that the FES-10 has sufficient relevance, and MFES-14 has sufficient comprehensibility. Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) Scale-Simplified (ABC-15) has sufficient relevance in measuring balance confidence supported by moderate-quality evidence. Low to very low-quality evidence underpinned the content validity of other instruments. High-quality evidence supported sufficient unidimensionality for eight instruments (FES-10, MFES-14, ABC-6, ABC-15, ABC-16, Iconographical FES (Icon-FES), FES-International (FES-I) and Perceived Ability to Prevent and Manage Fall Risks (PAPMFR)).
conclusionContent validity of instruments to measure falls efficacy is understudied. Structural validity is sufficient for a number of widely-used instruments. Measuring balance confidence is a subset of falls efficacy. Further work is needed to investigate a broader construct for falls efficacy.
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Registered trials
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