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Reliability and Validity of Refractive Error–Specific Quality-of-Life Instruments

2003; American Medical Association; Volume: 121; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1001/archopht.121.9.1289

1538-3601

Jason J. Nichols, G. Lynn Mitchell, Mario Saracino, Karla Zadnik,

Retinal Diseases and Treatments

To evaluate the reliability and validity of the National Eye Institute Refractive Error Quality of Life Instrument (NEI-RQL-42) and the Refractive Status and Vision Profile survey (RSVP).Eighty-one participants with good visual acuity (better than 20/30 best-corrected acuity in each eye) completed the NEI-RQL-42 and RSVP on 2 occasions. Noncycloplegic, subjective refractions and high-contrast visual acuity assessments were also performed. Statistical analyses addressed internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and validity (ie, concurrent and construct validity) of the 2 instruments.The NEI-RQL-42, RSVP survey, subjective refraction, and visual acuity.The internal consistency for the overall NEI-RQL-42 was excellent (Cronbach alpha = 0.91); and for the overall RSVP, good (Cronbach alpha = 0.81). Likewise, the test-retest reliability for the overall NEI-RQL-42 was excellent (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC], 0.91; 95% limits of agreement, -9.1 to 10.1); and for the RSVP, fair (ICC, 0.76; 95% limits of agreement, -12.1 to 12.5). The NEI-RQL-42 overall score showed good concurrent validity as it correlated significantly with subjective refraction, whereas the RSVP overall score did not. The NEI-RQL-42 and RSVP showed similar construct validity in terms of refractive error discrimination, but the NEI-RQL-42 showed better construct validity when discriminating by the type of refractive correction used by patients. Between-instrument convergent and divergent validity was good.The NEI-RQL-42 and RSVP generally have good reliability and validity in this sample of patients with refractive error. However, other factors such as content should be considered in choosing 1 of these instruments for studies of refractive error correction.