title: Instrument development of the UNC Dry Eye Management Scale.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Dry eye disease (DED) is a common ocular disease that can have adverse effects on quality of life. Our aim was to develop a single-item questionnaire that is reliable, patient-driven, and clinic friendly to assess DED symptoms and their effect on quality of life to help support the management of patients with DED.
  
  
  METHODS
  An initial dry eye questionnaire was created and administered to 18 patients with DED followed by a 15-minute cognitive interviewing session. This questionnaire was then refined using feedback obtained from the cognitive interview and was termed the University of North Carolina Dry Eye Management Scale (UNC DEMS). Field testing was then performed on 66 patients (46 with DED and 20 without DED) to determine the validity and test-retest reliability of the UNC DEMS compared with the current gold standard, the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI). Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated between the UNC DEMS, OSDI, and other DED measures to assess criterion-related validity. Reliability coefficients were estimated for test-retest reliability.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Comparing the UNC DEMS with the OSDI across all study participants, the correlation coefficient was 0.80 (P < 0.001). Comparing the UNC DEMS with the OSDI in the DED group, the correlation coefficient was 0.69 (P < 0.001). The test-retest reliability coefficient of the UNC DEMS was estimated to be 0.90.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The UNC DEMS is a valid, reliable questionnaire that can be efficiently administered in a busy clinical practice and can be used to support the management of patients with DED.
authors.affiliation: *University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC; †University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC; ‡School of Medicine and Health Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC; and §Department of Ophthalmology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grubbs
authors.forename: Kyle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Huynh
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tolleson-Rinehart
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Weaver
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.forename: Chelsea
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lefebvre
authors.forename: Richard M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015352:Dry Eye Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009657:North Carolina; D009885:Ophthalmology; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires