The Contact Lens Impact on Quality of Life (CLIQ) questionnaire: development and validation

NoPURPOSE. To develop and validate a questionnaire for the measurement of the impact of contact lenses on quality of life (QoL): The Contact Lens Impact on Quality of Life (CLIQ) Questionnaire. METHODS. The questionnaire was developed and validated using conventional methods and Rasch analysis to assure content validity, repeatability, construct validity, and low respondent burden. Item identification and selection (647 items) were performed with an extensive literature review, professional advice, and lay focus groups. Item reduction used focus groups and data obtained from 161 subjects completing a 90-item pilot questionnaire. Validity and reliability, from data of 128 additional subjects, were assessed using Rasch analysis, intraclass correlation coefficient, and Bland-Altman limits of agreement. RESULTS. A 28-item CLIQ Questionnaire was developed and shown to have good validity and reliability by Rasch analysis statistics: real person separation, 2.02; model person separation, 2.17; reliability, 0.80; root mean square measurement error, 2.73; mean square ± SD infit, 1.01 ± 0.18; outfit, 1.01 ± 0.19. The items (mean score, 49.8 ± 4.9) were well targeted to the subjects (mean score, 51.2 ± 6.2) with a mean difference of 1.35 (scale range, 0-100) units. Test-retest intraclass correlation coefficient (0.86) and coefficient of repeatability (±8.00 units) demonstrated good repeatability. CONCLUSIONS. Rasch analysis and standard psychometric analyses demonstrated that the 28-item CLIQ Questionnaire is a valid and reliable measure of QoL in contact lens wearers. A scoring algorithm is provided for CLIQ Questionnaire users to convert raw scores into the Rasch analysis-derived linear person measures

Refractive error changes in cortical, nuclear, and posterior subcapsular cataracts

AIMS: To determine the effect of the three main morphological types of cataract on refractive error. METHODS: Data were prospectively collected from 77 subjects (age 67 (SD 8) years) with one morphological type of cataract. 34 had cortical, 21 had nuclear, and 21 had posterior subcapsular cataract. 22 subjects with clear lenses (60 (7) years) were recruited as controls. The spherical equivalent and astigmatic vector change between spectacle correction and optimal refraction were calculated. RESULTS: The cortical cataract group showed a significant astigmatic change of 0.71 (0.67) D (mean (1 SD)) compared to the control group (0.24 (0.20) D), with 24% outside the 95% confidence limit (0.63 D). The nuclear cataract group showed a significant myopic shift of -0.38 (0.60) D compared to the control group (+0.02 (0.21) D), with 52% beyond the minus 95% confidence limit (-0.39 D). CONCLUSION: A quarter of subjects with cortical cataract showed larger changes in astigmatism than subjects with clear lenses. This is probably because of the localised refractive index changes along cortical spoke opacities within the pupillary area. The well known myopic shift of nuclear cataract was also demonstrated

Visual Performance in Patients with Neovascular Age Related Macular Degeneration Undergoing Treatment With Intravitreal Ranibizumab

Purpose. To assess visual function and its response to serial intravitreal ranibizumab (Lucentis, Genentech) in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nv-AMD). Methods. Forty-seven eyes of 47 patients with nv-AMD, and corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) logMAR 0.7 or better, undergoing intravitreal injections of ranibizumab, were enrolled into this prospective study. Visual function was assessed using a range of psychophysical tests, while mean foveal thickness (MFT) was determined by optical coherence tomography (OCT). Results. Groupmean (±sd)MFT reduced significantly frombaseline (233±59)) to exit (205±40)) (p = 0.001). CDVA exhibited no change between baseline and exit visits (p = 0.48 and p = 0.31 resp.). Measures of visual function that did exhibit statistically significant improvements (p \u3c 0.05 for all) included reading acuity, reading speed, mesopic and photopic contrast sensitivity (CS), mesopic and photopic glare disability (GD), and retinotopic ocular sensitivity (ROS) at all eccentricities. Conclusion. Eyes with nv-AMD undergoing intravitreal ranibizumab injections exhibit improvements in many parameters of visual function. Outcome measures other than CDVA, such as CS, GD, and ROS, should not only be considered in the design of studies investigating nv-AMD, but also in treatment and retreatment strategies for patients with the condition

A Comprehensive Evaluation of the Precision (Repeatability and Reproducibility) of the Oculus Pentacam HR

This article is made available with the permission of the publisher, Association for Research in Vision and OphthalmologyPurpose.: To evaluate the precision (repeatability and reproducibility) of the Pentacam HR (high-resolution) tomographer (Oculus, Wetzlar, Germany) across a large range of measurement parameters. Methods.: A randomly selected healthy eye of 100 subjects was scanned twice with the Pentacam HR by one observer for each of the three measurement modes: 25-picture (1 second) scan, 50-picture (2 second) scan, and cornea fine scan (50 pictures in 1 second). The repeatability of each scan mode was assessed. One additional 25-picture scan was acquired by a second observer to test reproducibility. Results.: Overall, the Pentacam HR had good precision, with the cornea fine scan returning the most precise results. The 25- and 50-picture scans showed similar precision. The repeatability limits, expressed as the within-subject SD × 1.96√2 of the anterior keratometry (K)1 and K2 readings with the standard 25-picture scan, were 0.25 and 0.36 D, respectively. Pachymetry maps, corneal maps, anterior chamber depth maps, corneal volume, topometric Q values and indices were also found to be precise. Poor precision was found for estimates of axis (astigmatic and progression index), pupil center pachymetry, single points on corneal maps, refractive power maps, and equivalent K readings. Conclusions.: Measurements taken with the Pentacam HR are repeatable and reproducible, especially those obtained with the cornea fine scan. Although the Pentacam HR is clearly a very useful clinical and research tool, the measurement of corneal axes, pupil center pachymetry, front meridional and axial maps, refractive power maps, and equivalent K readings should be interpreted with caution

Subscale Assessment of the NEI-RQL-42 Questionnaire with Rasch Analysis

This article is made available with the permission of the publisher, Association for Research in Vision and OphthalmologyPurpose.: To explore the psychometric properties of the 13 subscales of the NEI-RQL-42 questionnaire using Rasch analysis. Methods.: The NEI-RQL-42 is a refractive error-related quality of life (QoL) questionnaire with a complex design; its 13 subscales contain 42 questions, which include 16 different question/response category formats. It was completed by 100 laser refractive surgery subjects (spectacle and contact lens wearers) pre- and postoperatively. Rasch analysis was used to assess the use of response categories, success in measuring a single trait per subscale (unidimensionality), ability to discriminate persons (precision), and targeting of the questions to person QoL. Results.: Response categories were misused in four subscales (clarity of vision, diurnal fluctuation, symptoms, and appearance), which required repair before further analyses. Six subscales contained items that did not contribute to a single trait measurement (multidimensional). All subscales were found to be inadequate at distinguishing between persons (person separation >2.0), and targeting of the questions to QoL was poor for six subscales. Conclusions.: The NEI-RQL-42 questionnaire is deficient for all psychometric properties tested. Clinicians or researchers wishing to measure QoL related to refractive error correction should consider other questionnaires that have been rigorously developed and meet standard psychometric properties

Teaching Communication Skills: An Australian Optometry Program’s New Course

A limited license to use Optometric Education for your personal, educational or other noncommercial use is provided to ASCO members and the general public. No part of this journal may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means for any commercial purpose without permission in writing from ASCOAfter a review of the literature, the authors describe the experience of developing and teaching a new communication skills course at Flinders University in South Australia. A follow-up survey indicated that optometry students fully embraced the course and reported that their communication skills had been enhanced in 20 specific domains. The specific skills/tasks for which the most improvement was reported included the ability to accurately reflect feelings and content back to the other person, allowing time for silence, being more self-aware when communicating, and relating effectively with a person who is emotionally distressed

Validity of the Adaptation to Age-related Vision Loss Scale in an Australian Cataract Population

Purpose: The Adaptation to Age-related Vision Loss (AVL) scale was developed to measure the adjustment of older adults who are adapting to late-life vision loss. The purpose of this study was to assess whether the AVL scale satisfies the Rasch model in a cataract population. Methods: The 24-item AVL scale (18 negatively and 6 positively coded) was mailed to 436 cataract patients for self-administration whilst they were on the waiting list for cataract surgery at the Flinders Eye Centre, Adelaide, South Australia. Rasch analysis was performed to determine whether the items were measuring a single construct (unidimensionality) as examined with fit statistics and principal components analysis (PCA) of the residuals. The ability of the scale to distinguish between the levels of adaptation of the participants (person separation) was investigated, with a value ≥ 2.0 established as the minimum acceptable. Results: The AVL scale was unable to differentiate sufficiently between participants’ levels of adaptation, indicating poor person separation. One item did not fit the construct, causing misfit. Furthermore, the five positively worded items did not appear either to measure the same construct as other items, resulting in lack of unidimensionality evidenced by PCA. Following the deletion of these items, the AVL scale was one-dimensional but a single item continued to misfit, so it had to be deleted, resulting in an 18-item AVL scale. Even so, the discriminating abilities of the scale continued to be poor. Conclusions: The AVL scale is not an appropriate measure of adaptation to vision loss in a cataract population

The Impact of Structural and Functional Parameters in Glaucoma Patients on Patient-Reported Visual Functioning

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Patient-centred measurement in ophthalmology – a paradigm shift

Ophthalmologists and researchers in ophthalmology understand what a rapidly evolving field ophthalmology is, and that to conduct good research it is essential to use the latest and best methods. In outcomes research, one modern initiative has been to conduct holistic measurement of outcomes inclusive of the patient's point of view; patient-centred outcome. This, of course, means including a questionnaire. However, the irony of trying to improve outcomes research by being inclusive of many measures is that the researcher may not be expert in all measures used. Certainly, few people conducting outcomes research in ophthalmology would claim to be questionnaire experts. Most tend to be experts in their ophthalmic subspecialty and probably simply choose a popular questionnaire that appears to fit their needs and think little more about it. Perhaps, unlike our own field, we assume that the field of questionnaire research is relatively stable. This is far from the case. The measurement of patient-centred outcomes with questionnaires is a rapidly evolving field. Indeed, over the last few years a paradigm shift has occurred in patient-centred measurement

Refractive Status and Vision Profile: evaluation of psychometric properties and comparison of Rasch and summated Likert-scaling. [Post-print]

The psychometric properties of the Refractive Status and Vision Profile (RSVP) questionnaire were evaluated using Rasch analysis. Ninety-one myopic patients from a refractive surgery clinic and general optometric practice completed the RSVP. Rasch analysis of the RSVP ordinal data was performed to examine for unidimensionality and item reduction. The traditional Likert-scoring system was compared with a Rasch-scored RSVP and a reduced item Rasch-scored RSVP. Rasch analysis of the original RSVP showed poor targeting of item difficulty to patient quality of life, items with a ceiling effect and underutilized response categories. Combining the underutilized response scales and removal of redundant and misfitting items improved the internal consistency and targeting of the RSVP, and the reduced 20-item Rasch scored RSVP showed greater relative precision over standard Likert scoring in discriminating between the two subject groups. A Rasch scaled quality of life questionnaire is recommended for use in refractive outcomes research