Using an Arabic Version of the Life-Space Assessment to Evaluate How Gait Speed and Gender Predict Mobility Restrictions among Older Adults

Alia A Alghwiri; Faten S Obeidat; Joud Al-Jaghbeer; Reham A Abuatiq; Susan L Whitney

doi:10.3390/medicina60030411

Using an Arabic Version of the Life-Space Assessment to Evaluate How Gait Speed and Gender Predict Mobility Restrictions among Older Adults

Medicina (Kaunas). 2024 Feb 28;60(3):411. doi: 10.3390/medicina60030411.

Authors

Alia A Alghwiri^{1

2}, Faten S Obeidat³, Joud Al-Jaghbeer⁴, Reham A Abuatiq⁵, Susan L Whitney^{2

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiotherapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan.
² Department of Physical Therapy, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
³ Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan.
⁴ Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, Middle East University, Amman 11831, Jordan.
⁵ Rehabilitation Medicine Department, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
⁶ Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.

Abstract

Background and Objectives: The Life-Space Assessment (LSA) serves as an assessment tool for evaluating mobility and participation in older adults. To date, no studies have investigated the validity and reliability of the LSA within Arabic-speaking communities. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of an Arabic version of the LSA and to investigate the potential predictors of mobility restrictions in older Arabic-speaking adults. Materials and Methods: This study involved a cohort of 75 Arabic-speaking older adults (with a mean age of 67.2 ± 5.9). The LSA was administered twice, with a one-week interval, to assess its test-retest reliability. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the LSA were assessed using Cronbach's alpha and intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs), respectively. The validity of the LSA was determined by analyzing its correlation with outcome measures related to the fear of falling, depression, quality of life, lower limb strength, physical performance, and gait speed. Results: The test-retest reliability of the LSA composite score demonstrated good results (ICC = 0.83). The validity of the LSA was supported by significant correlations between its scores and factors such as gender, education level, and all other outcome measures. Notably, being female and having a lower gait speed emerged as significant predictors of mobility restrictions in older Arabic-speaking adults, accounting for 49% of the variance (R² = 49%) in the multiple logistic regression analysis conducted. Conclusions: The Arabic version of the LSA has proven to be a reliable and valid measure of mobility and participation among older Arabic-speaking adults. This study endorses the application of the Arabic LSA in both research and clinical settings involving older adults and emphasizes the need for further investigation to fully understand its psychometric features in other Arabic-speaking individuals afflicted with neurological and musculoskeletal conditions.

Keywords: Arabic; fear of falling; gait; participation; reliability; restrictions; validity.

MeSH terms

Aged
Fear
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Psychometrics
Quality of Life*
Reproducibility of Results
Surveys and Questionnaires
Walking Speed*

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.