The Functional Fitness Assessment Battery: Reliability and Validity Data for Elderly Women

Abstract

A battery of field tests was recently developed to assess five fitness parameters in elderly persons. The present study examined the test-retest reliability of each item in the battery and tested the validity of the cardiorespiratory endurance item. Reliability and validity data were obtained from two convenience samples. The 29 subjects in the reliability study were community-living women enrolled in seniors’ exercise classes. The validity of the cardiorespiratory endurance item was tested by comparing it with maximal work capacity on a treadmill test. The 52 women in that part of the study were all participants in a study to assess the effect of weight-bearing exercises on women with low bone mass. Both samples were combined for a principal component analysis. Low reproducibility was observed for coordination (0.54) and strength/endurance (0.56). After slightly modifying the test protocol for these two items, reproducibility reached 84 and 94%, respectively. The correlation between the cardiorespiratory endurance score and maximal work capacity was −0.65, while that between the composite score and maximal work capacity was −0.64. Given these minor modifications, then, the Functional Fitness Assessment battery is a reliable and valid tool for assessing functional fitness in elderly women.

Confiabilidade de testes de aptidão funcional em mulheres de 60 a 80 anos

“…Os resultados de estabilidade entre as medidas, apresentados referentes à bateria da AAHPERD apresentam índices de concordância menores do que comparados com outros estudos disponíveis na literatura (Bravo et al, 1994;Mobility & Mobility, 1997). Em estudo realizado por Bravo et al (1994) O fato do presente estudo envolver uma população heterogênea, principalmente no que diz respeito à faixa etária, talvez justifique os níveis de estabilidade mais baixos do que comparados aos evidenciados na literatura.…”

“…Em estudo realizado por Bravo et al (1994) O fato do presente estudo envolver uma população heterogênea, principalmente no que diz respeito à faixa etária, talvez justifique os níveis de estabilidade mais baixos do que comparados aos evidenciados na literatura.…”

Batteries assessing health related fitness in the elderly: a brief review

“…This battery, also known as Functional Fitness Assessment Battery [3], having been subjected to several reliability and validity examinations [4] and once established the pertinent normative parameters [30], has become one of the most popular batteries and one of the most useful databank tools. However, certain weak points have been detected, such as the absence of some lower body muscle function tests or the fact that some of the exercises (flexibility and aerobic endurance) may be difficult to perform for many elderly people, as well as the verification of a learning effect [40].…”

“…However, certain weak points have been detected, such as the absence of some lower body muscle function tests or the fact that some of the exercises (flexibility and aerobic endurance) may be difficult to perform for many elderly people, as well as the verification of a learning effect [40]. Besides, it is worth mentioning that the protocol in two of the exercises (coordination and strength) should undergo some modifications in order to improve its reproducibility [3].…”

The Applicability of the Activities of Daily Living Age Scale in Japanese Community-Dwelling Adults Aged 75 Years or Older

“…The following 3 physical performance items were selected according to further research that recognizes them as significantly related to ADL [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46]. These are the same items that were used in the developed ADLA equation in previous study.…”