French version of the Mini BESTest: A translation and transcultural adaptation study incorporating a reliability analysis for individuals with sensorimotor impairments undergoing functional rehabilitation

The Mini BESTest has been developed to comprehensively examine postural control in individuals with various pathologies treated by rehabilitation professionals. However, no formal French version of the Mini BESTest is available. This study aimed to translate and transculturally adapt the Mini BESTest to French and verify its intra- and inter-rater reliability. Translation and transcultural adaptation was performed in accordance with established guidelines, which included 2 initial translations and transcultural adaptations of the Mini BESTest to French that were then merged, a backward English translation, a subsequent adapted French version resolving discrepancies between the English versions, and pilot testing the final version by French-speaking physical therapists. In total, 20 participants with sensorimotor impairments with various etiologies and able to stand for at least 30 sec without human or technical assistance were video-recorded during evaluation with the Mini BESTest. From this video-recording, we calculated inter-rater and intrarater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.974–0.988), internal consistency (Cronbach alpha = 0.895–0.929), standard error of measurement (1.05 and 1.63), and minimal detectable change at the 95% confidence interval (2.91 and 4.51). All values were comparable to those previously reported for the original version of the Mini BESTest. Furthermore, no significant ceiling or floor effect was detected. Therefore, the translated and transculturally adapted version of the Mini BESTest in French compares well to the original version and can be used by French-speaking rehabilitation professionals to examine postural control.