[Development and evaluation of psychometric tests of the Chinese-version of low vision quality of life questionnaire].

OBJECTIVE

To develop and evaluate a Chinese language vision health related quality-of-life (VRQoL) questionnaire.

METHODS

The low vision quality of life questionnaire (LVQOL) was translated and adapted into the Chinese-version low vision quality of life questionnaire (CLVQOL). The systematic protocols were set as 3 forward translations, 2 committee reviews and 1 back-ward translation. The CLVQOL was performed in 100 randomly selected people with low vision (primary group) and 100 people with normal vision (control group). Ninety-four participants from the primary group completed the CLVQOL and repeated 2 weeks later (test-retest group). The results were compared with patient demographics and the internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, item-internal consistency, item-discrimination validity, construct validity and discrimination validity of the CLVQOL were calculated.

RESULTS

The review committee agreed that the CLVQOL replicated the meaning of the LVQOL and was sensitive to cultural adaptations. The Cronbach alpha coefficient and the split-half coefficient for the four scales and total CLVQOL scales were 0.75 to 0.97. The test-retest reliability as estimated by intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.69 to 0.95. Item-internal consistency was > 0.4 and item-discrimination validity was generally < 0.40. The varimax rotation factor analysis of the CLVQOL identified four principal factors. All of the scores of four subscales and the total score of CLVQOL of the primary group were lower than those of the control group, both in patients and local residents. CLVQOL scores were highly correlated with visual acuity.

CONCLUSIONS

The CLVQOL is a culturally specific VRQOL measure instrument. CLVQOL can satisfy conventional psychometric criteria, can discriminate visually healthy populations from low vision patients and is valuable in the clinical practice and in the screening of the community populations.