OBJECTIVES

The aim of the study is to evaluate and refine a newly developed instrument, the Student Refractive Error and Eyeglasses Questionnaire (SREEQ), designed to measure the impact of uncorrected and corrected refractive error on vision related quality of life in myopic school-aged children.

METHODS

Children up to the age of 18 years who presented for an eye examination with current or previous reported use of eyeglasses and who met the study requirements for spectacle prescription were included in this questionnaire study. SREEQ consists of 20 specific items divided into two parts with 3 response categories. Part A relates to perceptions of uncorrected vision/not wearing glasses and Part B relates to perceptions of corrected vision/wearing glasses followed by demographic and clinician details. Rasch analysis was used to explore the psychometric performance of the questionnaire and scale using WINSTEPS software.

RESULTS

A total of 125 eligible children completed the SREEQ, with mean age of 12.7±2.9. All items fit the Rasch model and were retained and the scale was unidimensional (as indicated by principal-components analysis of the residuals). All children and item Infit and Outfit MNSQs fell within recommended fit criteria. Without glasses the item that students were bothered least by was “feeling dizzy” and with glasses, the same item “feeling dizzy” to be the least bothering item. As per the Rasch analysis, person reliability coefficient for the no glasses version was 0.84 and 0.91 for the with glasses version. The item reliability for no glasses version was 0.99 and 0.80 for the with glasses version.

CONCLUSIONS

The SREEQ had satisfactory psychometric properties and Rasch analysis further supported the construct validity of the scale to measure the impact of uncorrected and corrected refractive error on VRQoL in myopic school-aged children in London. The SREEQ could be used in future studies to evaluate improvement in VRQoL.