[The development of a scale of life quality for diseases with visual impairment].
OBJECTIVE
To describe the development of a scale of life (QOL) quality which measures the quality of life of Chinese patients with visual impairment.


METHODS
20 items were chosen to form a scale. 57 cataractous patients with visual impairment and 60 glaucomatous patients with visual impairment and visual field loss at different levels simultaneously were measured by the scale to evaluate the validity, reliability and responsiveness of the scale.


RESULTS
The scale consists of 20 items which cover four domains of QOL. The criterion related to the validity of the scale: r = 0.6865 (P = 0.000). The test-retest reliability of the scale: r = 0.8959 (P = 0.000). Coronback's alpha was 0.9358. The variance ratio (VR) of intra-individual variance to inter-individual variance was 0.0551 for overall scores. This correlation coefficient of split-half method was 0.9553. The responsiveness: t-test, t = 5.95 (P = 0.000). The effect size statistic was 1.533.


CONCLUSIONS
The results also demonstrate that the scale has a satisfactory validity, reliability and responsiveness. It is suggested that the scale can be applied in clinical trails.
Yu
Q
Q
Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou.
Li
S
S
Chen
H
H
D002386:Cataract / Q000523:psychology; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D011788:Quality of Life; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D014792:Visual Acuity; D019987:Persons with Visual Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*