THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BALANCE CONFIDENCE AND SCORES ON THE PERFORMANCE-ORIENTED MOBILITY ASSESSMENT (POMA) IN COMMUNITY DWELLING ELDERS: A PILOT STUDY. Constance A. Inacio*; Joshua Cleland Physical Therapy Program, Franklin Pierce College, Concord, NH PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between self-perceived levels of balance confidence and physical performance on a standardized balance test in a cohort of community-dwelling elders. BACKGROUNDS/SIGNIFICANCE: The prevalence of falls among the elderly is significantly linked to morbidity and mortality and has been extensively investigated for both its economic and medical impact on society. Along with assessing a person's physical abilities and how they contribute to their risk for falls, the role of self-efficacy also needs to be investigated for its potential contribution to a person's likelihood to fall. SUBJECTS: A convenience sample of twelve subjects was recruited from a local elderly housing authority complex to participate in a falls-screening project and informed consent was obtained from each participant. Eleven females and one male participated in the study with a mean age of 74.9 (standard deviation of 3.53) years. Each participant's balance was measured using the standard administration procedures for POMA (Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment). Each participant's self- perceived level of balance confidence was measured by the FES (Falls Efficacy Scale) using its standard instructions. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Each participant's balance was measured using the standard administration procedures for POMA (Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment). Each participant's self-perceived level of balance confidence was measured by the FES (Falls Efficacy Scale) using its standard instructions. ANALYSES: Data collected from the POMA (total score and two sub-sets of balance and gait) and the FES were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficients to investigate the relationship between the scores of the two instruments. RESULTS: The Pearson correlation between the total POMA and the FES was .711. The correlation between the balance sub-set of the POMA and FES was .564. The correlation between gait sub-set of the POMA and FES was .595. CONCLUSIONS: Based on this study, there was a significant correlation between the POMA total score and the FES (p=.01) and between the gait sub-set of the POMA and the FES (p= .05). The correlation of the balance sub-set of the POMA and the FES was not statistically significant. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The results of the study suggest a person's balance confidence correlates to their performance on the POMA, one standardized balance tool used to calculate a person's risk for falls. Developing strategies to increase self-efficacy may be an effective adjunct to traditional interventions to decrease a person's risk for falls. FUNDING SOURCE: None KEYWORDS: Balance, Falls, Self-Efficacy Copyright 2009 by the American Physical Therapy Association. Requests for reprints should be directed to the corresponding author of the article. Educators, students, and other academic customers may receive permission to reprint copyrighted material from Physical Therapy (ISSN 1538-6724) by contacting the Copyright Clearance Center Inc, 222 Rosewood Dr, Danvers, MA 01923. Other types of customers who want permission to reprint should contact the APTA Editorial Office, Attn: Physical Therapy.