Cross-cultural adaptation and measurement properties of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the spinal cord injury - Falls Concern Scale.

Study Design: Psychometric study.

Objectives: To cross-culturally adapt the spinal cord injury-falls concern scale (SCI-FCS) to the Brazilian Portuguese language and to evaluate its measurement properties.

Setting: SARAH Network of Rehabilitation Hospitals, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Methods: The SCI-FCS was translated and culturally adapted to the Brazilian- Portuguese language, following recommended guidelines. The following measurement properties were verified: internal consistency (Cronbach's α), test-retest reliability (ICC and quadratic-weighted kappa coefficients), and construct validity (Rasch analysis).

Results: One-hundred and thirty individuals participated. The median SCI-FCS-Brazil score was 27 (22-34). The Cronbach's α was 0.95; ICC was 0.92 (95% CI, 0.86-0.95) for the total test-retest scores, and the Kappa coefficients ranged from 0.04 to 0.87 (95% CI, 0.01-1) for the item-level reliability. Rasch analysis reliability index was 0.81 and 0.98 and the separation index was 2.10 and 6.25 for the persons and items, respectively. Both items and persons fitted the statistics model's expectations, ensuring its unidimensionality.

Conclusions: The SCI-FCS-Brazil showed adequate measurement properties. Its use in manual wheelchair users with SCI is recommended to help defining rehabilitation strategies.