Development of risk assessment scale of maternal fall and its reliability and validity test

Abstract

Objective With methods of literature review, item test, reliability and validity test, etc., to develop a fall risk assessment scale specific to the obstetrical department, which, after reliability and validity test, can be used for women health care before, at and after delivery. Methods Items in the fall risk assessment scale for pregnant and maternal women were determined and weights were assigned by reviewing relative risk factors in literature, referring to items in other fall risk assessment tools from home and aboard. After a preliminary scale was formed, 154 pregnant and maternal women hospitalized from May to December 2016 were assessed, so that reliability and validity of the scale were tested. Results In this fall risk assessment scale for the obstetrical department, test-retest reliability was 0.822, interrater reliability was 0.926, content validity of expertise was 0.927, and area under the curve (ROC) was 0.750 (P<0.05) . When the dividing value was 3.5, sum of sensitivity (0.714) and specificity (0.714) reached the max. Conclusions The new fall risk scale, with favorable reliability and validity, can filter patients with high risk of fall, yet, it is still to be testified and perfected in future application. Key words: Obstetrical nursing; Accidental falls; Assessment tool; Reliability; Validity