Activity- Specific Balance Confidence (ABC) level of elderly Slum-dwellers of North India

Ageing is an inevitable process which begins before birth and continues throughout the life. The world health organization earmarked the theme of world health day 1999 as "Active ageing makes the difference". The Activities-specific and Balance Confidence (ABC) Scale is a questionnaire developed to measure an aspect of the psychological impact of balance impairment and/or falls. It is used to measure the perceived balancing capacity of individual doing certain functional activities. Four hundred and three elderly aged 60 years and above living an urban slum of Muzaffarnagar city were studied. Majority of them were observed having high level of confidence for activities for basic mobility as well as community mobility. This level of confidence was observed declining with increase in age irrespective of sex of elderly. Many researchers have observed decreased balance confidence followed by activity restriction that may further lead to deterioration of level of confidence to perform a particular activity. Counseling of elderly to improve their confidence will definitely help in ensuring active ageing.