Quality of Life Instruments Used in Ophthalmology and the Turkish Translation of National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ 25)
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Abstract
To investigate the relationship between ophthalmology and the Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) concept. To present a general knowledge about the HRQOL instruments used in ophthalmology and to give a detailed information about the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ). We also aimed to present the translation process of NEI-VFQ into Turkish. Material and Methods: NEI-VFQ is a vision targeted HRQL questionnaire developed to assess the quality of life of patients with chronic eye disease. This instrument has been translated to Turkish by an established methodology. During the translation process validity and reliability tests were performed on a sample of 61 patients consisting of cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, age related macular degeneration (ARMD), and degenerative myopia. Medline database from 1966 to the present using the following keywords and phrases: vision impairment, visual (or vision) disability, quality of life, functional assessment, questionnaire, and visual function. Results: The Turkish version of the NEI-VFQ had a high reliability and validity. The Cronbach alpha of the questionnaire was 0.97. The instrument had the sensitivity to discriminate patients according to disease severity, There were significant correlations between the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHO-QOL) in the similar domains. Conclusion: The Turkish version of the NE-VFQ has the similar psychometric properties, reliability and validity as the original version. It can be used as an instrument to assess the effect of different therapeutic options and the effect of eye diseases to the quality of patients' lives.