Psychometric validation of the Barthel index in Mexican older adults

Abstract

Abstract

Objective: Geriatric population is increasing worldwide and knowing their healthstatus is necessary to be able to plan public policies that improve their quality of life, functional independence through the ability to do basic daily activities is a good indicator to know the health and need of medical care. One of the most used scales for this is the Barthel Index, so the purpose of this work was to validate this scale psychometrically, to identify if its structure is the most appropriate through confirmatory factorial analysis.

Materials and methods: It was worked with two groups of participants, 200 senior citizens of Mexico City for validation and 276 senior inhabitants of Mexico City for confirmatory factorial analysis.

Results: A structure with ten reagents, adequate reliability and correct adjustment was found. Cronbach's Alpha coefficient [Alpha = 0.96, CI95% (0.95-0.97)], Revelle's Beta (Beta = 0.91), McDonald's omega (Omega = 0.90) and the highest lower limit of Ten Berge and Socan were calculated. (glb = 0.96).

Conclusions: The Barthel index in self-report has psychometric properties that make it a reliable and valid measure for the purpose of evaluating functional independence in the geriatric population of Mexico City.