Validation of the Indian (Hindi) version of the life-space assessment scale among community-dwelling older adults: a multicentric cross-sectional study

TL;DR

This study validates a Hindi version of a mobility assessment tool for older adults in India, showing it is reliable and correlates with other health measures.

Contribution

The study provides a culturally adapted and validated Hindi version of the Life-Space Assessment scale for older adults in India.

Findings

The Hindi version of the Life-Space Assessment (LSA-H) showed strong validity and reliability.

LSA-H scores were significantly correlated with other health assessment tools like the ABC-H and WHO-BREF.

The LSA-H is a valid instrument for assessing mobility and living space in Hindi-speaking older adults in India.

Abstract

The Life-Space Assessment (LSA) is an instrument that measures mobility in older adults as they reach different areas, defined as life-spaces extending from home to beyond towns or regions. The purpose of the study was to develop the Hindi version of the LSA (LSA- H) and to investigate the validity and reliability of the Hindi version as well as its cultural adaptation.

A cross-sectional study of two hundred forty-five older adults participated in the study from four different study practice areas. Following forward backwards translation, the LSA-H was developed, and the scores were correlated with those of the Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale Hindi (ABC- H), the Physical Health Subscale of the WHO-BREF Questionnaire and the Geriatric Depression Scale: Short Form Hindi (GDS-SFH) to test the criterion and concurrent validity.

The mean score and standard deviation of the LSA-H questionnaire were 56.53 ± 35.99, those of the Physical Health Subscale of the WHO-BREF instrument were 18.54 ± 7.87, those of the GDS-SFH questionnaire were 6.95 ± 4.21 and those of the ABC- H questionnaire were 54.40 ± 28.96. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) between the LSA-H score and ABC-H score was 0.707 (p value < 0.0001), that between the LSA-H score and the Physical Health Subscale of the WHO-BREF was 0.766 (p value < 0.0001), and that between the LSA-H score and GDS-SFG score was − 0.674 (p value < 0.0001).

This study demonstrated that the Hindi version of the LSA is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing living space among older adults in the Hindi language in an Indian population. Furthermore, the LSA-H was significantly correlated with other health assessment tools in terms of functional mobility, general health status and mental well-being.

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