Validity and Reliability of the Frenchay Activities Index for Community-Dwelling Elderly in South Korea

Abstract

The speed of population aging in South Korea is projected as the fastest in the world, and a long-term care insurance law has been just enacted. Therefore, it is important to estimate the number of the disabled community-dwelling elderly in South Korea. The Frenchay Activities Index (FAI) is a scale to measure higher level of physical function or activities that are necessary for independence in the community, i.e., instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). The FAI has undergone the most intensive evaluation, but there are only a few studies to establish its validity and reliability for community-dwelling elderly. In addition, a Korean version of the FAI has not been developed yet. The purpose of this study was to develop a Korean version of the FAI and analyze the related factors with IADL, using data from 770 community-dwelling elderly people in Deajeon, Korea. In the results, the reliability was acceptable (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.796). The content and discriminative validity were found to be satisfactory. In the results of the factor analysis, a reasonable four-component solution (domestic chores, outdoor work, leisure and hobby) was found. The related factors to IADL were age, gender, education level, and living conditions. The present findings suggest that the Korean version of the FAI would be useful as a measure of IADL and the results of the factor analysis might reflect socio-cultural differences, such as illiteracy, low socioeconomic level, and sex roles of the Korean elderly.