title: Evaluating psychometric properties of a clinical and a self-report blind rehabilitation outcome measure.
abstract: This study assessed the psychometric properties and evaluated the compatibility of two blind and low-vision rehabilitation outcome instruments, the VA-13 and the Functional Assessment of Self-Reliance on Tasks (FAST). Legally blind veterans (N = 190) from a Department of Veterans Affairs inpatient blind rehabilitation center completed the VA-13 (a retrospective pretest and posttest) at 6 weeks postdischarge. Clinicians rated veterans on the FAST at admission and discharge. The psychometric properties of the two instruments and their compatibility were evaluated with the use of a Rasch model analysis. The two instruments functioned consistently as screens and showed a ceiling effect at posttest; however, the VA-13 showed poor sensitivity to change. In contrast, the FAST showed more reliable change, but a few items changed in unexpected ways. Our conclusions show that the two instruments are currently not compatible for calibration; however, this can be improved with proper attention to scaling inadequacies, test administration times, and content coverage.
authors.affiliation: Southern Arizona Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Southwestern Blind Rehabilitation Center (3-124), Tucson, AZ 85723, USA. judith.babcock@med.va.gov
authors.forename: Judi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Babcock-Parziale
authors.forename: Patrick E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: McKnight
authors.forename: Daniel N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Head
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001766:Blindness / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012647:Self-Assessment; D014728:Veterans / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014768:Virginia; D015354:Vision, Low / Q000534:rehabilitation