Development and validation of the fall risk perception questionnaire for patients in acute care hospitals

Aims and objectives: This study aimed to develop a fall risk perception questionnaire for patients admitted to acute care hospitals and to establish its reliability and validity. Background: To prevent falls during patients’ hospitalisation, it is essential for them to accurately perceive their risk of falling. Design: This methodological study was performed to develop a fall risk perception questionnaire. Methods: After generating a preliminary questionnaire, two rounds of content validity testing were performed with nine experts. Following a pilot test, a convenience sample of 236 participants was recruited from an acute care hospital between 2 May 2018 and 15 December 2019. Construct, convergent and known-group validity of the questionnaire was evaluated, and reliability was estimated by calculating the internal consistency reliability coefficients. The study adhered to STROBE guidelines. Results: Exploratory factor analysis yielded a three-factor solution with 27 items. The questionnaire showed statistically significant positive correlation with the Korean Falls Efficacy Scale-International and the Morse Fall Scale, thus establishing convergent validity. For known-group comparison, Morse Fall Scale scores were categorised into two groups by cut-off score. The risk for falls group had a significantly higher perceived fall risk than the no risk for falls group, thus establishing known-group validity. Cronbach's alpha values indicated good to excellent reliability for the overall questionnaire with 27 items and for each of the three subfactors. Conclusions: The fall risk perception questionnaire demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity in an acute care hospital setting. Relevance to clinical practice: Because understanding patients’ perceptions of their fall risk is essential for preventing falls, it is necessary to regularly assess patients’ fall risk perception using tools with established reliability and validity.