Elsevier

Physiotherapy

Volume 80, Issue 11, 10 November 1994, Pages 744-747
Physiotherapy

Research Report
Validation and Reliability of the Elderly Mobility Scale

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9406(10)60612-8Get rights and content

Summary

This study established the concurrent validity and inter-rater reliability of a simple mobility scale for frail elderly people. Concurrent validity was established by correlating the Elderly Mobility Scale (EMS) score with Barthel and functional independence measure (FIM) scores for 36 patients, age 70–93 years. Spearman's rho was 0.962 with Barthel and 0.948 with FIM — highly significant correlations. Inter-rater reliability was established on 15 patients who were assessed independently by two physiotherapists. There was no significant difference between scores.

The EMS provides physiotherapists with a standardised validated scale for assessment of frail elderly people and was designed to be used in conjunction with the assessment package recommended by the Royal College of Physicians and British Geriatric Society (1992). Further evaluation of the scale is recommended to assess its validity in other units, and to assess its predictive validity for discharge outcome and physiotherapy outcome.

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    Information was collected from patients and electronic health records regarding their characteristics, fracture presentation, radiological diagnosis, specialist team allocation, pain management and bone health intervention. Participant characteristics of interest included their Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS)[8], a 9-level description of frailty where a higher number indicates increasing frailty severity; Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)[9], where a score of 23/30 indicates presence of cognitive impairment; Elderly Mobility Scale, a 20 item scale where a higher score indicates better ambulation[10], Barthel Index, a 20 item scale where a higher score indicates better ability to perform activities of daily living[11]; and the Nottingham Extended Activities of Daily Living scale, a 22-item extended daily living assessment tool[12]. Multimorbidity was defined as 3 or more co-existing diagnoses based on what was recorded in the participant's medical health records.

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The work was completed with a grant from the Riverside Health Audit Fund.

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