Berg Balance Scale: inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of the Spanish version with incomplete spinal cord injured subjects

Abstract

Study design: Cross sectional. Objectives: To determine the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of the Spanish version of the Berg Balance Scale with incomplete spinal cord injured subjects. Setting: CINER Rehabilitation Center. Methods: We administered and video recorded the Spanish version of the Berg Balance Scale to 20 incomplete SCI patients. Two raters scored the videos on two different occasions at least three weeks apart. We used intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and a confidence interval (CI) of 95% to evaluate the inter-rater and intra-rater (test–retest) reliability of the BBS total scores. Results: ICC values for inter-rater reliability at first and second observation were 0.99 (95% CI 0.97–1.00) and 0.99 (95% CI 0.99–1.00), respectively. Intra-rater ICC for rater 1 was 1.00 (95% CI 1.00–1.00) and for rater 2 was 1.00 (95% CI 0.99–1.00). All of them were excellent. Conclusions: The results indicate that the Spanish version of the Berg Balance Scale is a reliable tool to evaluate spinal cord injured patients’ balance.