The Refractive Status and Vision Profile: A questionnaire to measure vision-related quality of life in persons with refractive error

Objective/Background: To describe the Refractive Status and Vision Profile (RSVP), a questionnaire that measures self-reported vision-related health status (symptoms, functioning, expectations, concern) in persons with refractive error. Design: Cross-sectional study by survey. Participants: The RSVP was self-administered by 550 participants with refractive error (or history of refractive surgery) recruited from five refractive surgery practices and one optometric practice. Information on refraction, uncorrected and best-corrected visual acuity, and history of refractive surgery was obtained from physicians' records. Methods: Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, agreement with global measures of vision (criterion validity), discriminant validity, content validity, and construct validity (associations of scale scores with patient status variables) were assessed using Cronbach's α, Spearman rank correlations, factor analysis, and multitrait analysis. Outcome Measures: Scores on the overall RSVP scale (S) and on eight RSVP subscales (functioning, driving, concern, expectations, symptoms, glare, optical problems, problems with corrective lenses) were calculated based on 42 items. Results: Cronbach's α was 0.92 for S and ranged from 0.70 to 0.93 for RSVP subscales, indicating good internal consistency. Satisfaction with vision was more strongly associated with S than with refractive error or with visual acuity. Individuals with more refractive error had significantly lower (worse) scores for S and for subscales concern, functioning, driving, optical problems, and glare. Scores for S and for subscales concern, functioning, optical problems, and driving remained significantly associated with satisfaction with vision after adjustment for age, gender, corrective lens type, and refractive error. Conclusions: The RSVP measures a range of visual, functional, and psychologic impacts of refractive error that are likely to be important to patients. The RSVP would be a useful tool for evaluating interventions for correction of refractive error and may be useful for assessing refractive surgery candidates in clinical practice. (C) 2000 by the American Academy of Ophthalmology.