Development of a French-Canadian version of the Life-Space Assessment (LSA-F): content validity, reliability and applicability for power mobility device users

Purpose. To examine the measurement properties of the French-Canadian version of the Life-Space Assessment questionnaire (LSA-F) for power mobility device (PMD) users. Methods. Content validity, test-retest reliability of telephone interviews (2-week interval) and applicability were examined with PMD users presenting neurological, orthopedic or medically complex conditions. Translation/back-translation from English to French and cultural adaptation was performed and pretested with five bilingual users. Test-retest reliability was examined with 40 French-speaking users, age 50 and over, who had been using a subsidised PMD for 2-15 months. Audiotaped interviews were coded to judge content validity and applicability. Results. Content validity results confirmed equivalent meaning for most questions. The test-retest reliability was excellent for the composite score (intra-class correlation coefficient = 0.87) and revealed moderate to substantial concordance for 18/20 items (k = 0.47-0.73; P-a > 57.5%). The applicability of the LSA-F is satisfactory considering an acceptable burden of assessment, low refusal of the telephone interview format (8%; n = 4), reasonable administration time (9.2+ 3.9 min) and a normally distributed composite score. Conclusions. The LSA-F is a valid measure with regards to its content, stable over a period of 2 weeks and applicable for a population of middle-aged and older French-Canadian speaking adults who use PMDs.