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1From the Centre for Eye Research Australia, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; the 2Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia; the 3NH&MRC (National Health and Medical Research Council) Centre for Clinical Eye Research, Flinders University and Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia; and the 4Vision CRC (Correction Research Center), Sydney, Australia.
| Abstract |
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METHODS. Three hundred nineteen participants completed the IVI questionnaire, and the responses then were subjected to Rasch analysis by RUMM2020 software. With the person estimates for each item, CFA was used to assess two hypothesized structures: three-and four-factor models. The subscales of the model with the best fit were then further validated by Rasch analysis.
RESULTS. CFA supported a three-factor model that included items from the emotional well-being, reading and accessing information, and mobility and independence subscales. Almost all the selected goodness-of-fit statistics for the three-factor model were better than the recommended values. The factor loadings of the items on their respective domains were all statistically significant (P < 0.001) and ranged between 0.54 and 0.81. The three subscales individually fitted the Rasch model according to the itemtrait interaction test (mobility and independence
2 [df] = 45.9 [44], P = 0.39; emotional well-being = 28.4 [32], P = 0.65; and reading and accessing information = 43.5 [36], P = 0.18). The item-fit residuals values of the three subscales were <2.5 and showed mean and standard deviations approximating 0 and 1, respectively. The internal consistency reliability of the subscales (
) was substantial, ranging between 0.89 and 0.91.
CONCLUSIONS. An examination of the IVI dimension confirmed a three-subscale structure that displays interval measurement characteristics likely to provide a valid and reliable assessment of restriction of participation. The findings provide an opportunity for a more detailed measurement of the effects of different types of low-vision rehabilitation programs.
The grouping of items within domains is important because they can form subscales that allow for the assessment of intervention at more specific levels. This is particularly relevant to low-vision care, as management is typically undertaken on a task-specific basis, and so it is possible that real gains in one or two areas may be obscured within a large scale assessing overall performance. Subscale measurements of outcome provide a more detailed insight into the effectiveness aspects of low-vision rehabilitation. In the initial validation of the IVI questionnaire, principal components analysis (PCA) was used to explore the underlying structure of the scale, but no Rasch analysis was undertaken, making the findings essentially inferential.1 However, the analysis did not confirm the five domains specified a priori by the authors. Rather, it identified a three-factor solution that was supported by an examination of the scree plot. The authors did not either formally reject the five domains identified a priori or recommend the three-factor structure identified by PCA. The equivocal nature of the factors underlying the IVI may confuse potential users in how best to interpret the results and indicates that further scrutiny of IVI structure is needed.
Further examination of the domain structure is also warranted, as the IVI has recently undergone further validation using Rasch analysis which is a sophisticated approach to questionnaire development using modern psychometric methods.6 Rasch analysis converts categorical data into a linear scale, calculates item difficulty in relation to patient ability, and provides estimates of item and person measures on an interval scale.7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Rather than an exploratory approach as used in the initial study (i.e., PCA),1 the IVI subscale needs to be validated using a confirmatory process, especially if the outcome of low-vision rehabilitation and the sensitivity to change of specific aspects of quality of life (i.e., mobility, emotion, and leisure) are desired. The main objectives of this study were therefore to (1) assess the dimensions of the 28-item IVI using CFA performed on person-item measures derived from the Rasch analysis of the instrument and (2) to use Rasch analysis to validate the factors of the best-fitting model as viable traits for measuring specific aspects of restriction of participation for people with impaired vision.
| Materials and Methods |
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6/12 with restricted fields),
18 years of age and the ability to converse in English. Individuals who agreed to participate signed a consent form that allowed access to low-vision rehabilitation records. Ethical approval was obtained from the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospitals Human Research and Ethics Committee, and the research adhered to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.
Measures
The IVI questionnaire, sociodemographic, and clinical data were collected. Participants also completed the SF-12 from which the physical and mental component summaries (PCS-12 and MCS-12, respectively) were computed.16 Each summary scale was scored from 0 to 100, where a score of 100 indicates the best possible score and 0 represents the worst possible score. The PCS-12 and MCS-12 scores were included, to validate the IVI subset of items.
The IVI Questionnaire
The 32-item IVI instrument was either self- or interviewer-administered, to measure vision-related restriction of participation in daily living, as described previously.1 2 Responses to the IVI items were rated on a five-category Likert scale: not at all, 0; hardly at all, 1; a little, 2; a fair amount, 3; a lot, 4; and cant do because of eyesight, 5; with an additional response category, dont do because of other reasons, for 19 items. The latter response was not included in computing the average overall or domain score. The wording preceding these items was, In the past month, how much has your eyesight interfered with the following activities. For the remaining 13 items, the rating scale used was: not at all, 0; very rarely, 1; a little of the time, 2; a fair amount of the time, 3; a lot of the time, 4; and all the time, 5. The wording preceding these items was, In the past month, how often has your eyesight made you concerned or worried about the following.
Statistical Analysis
Most of the Rasch analyses were performed with RUMM202017 but Winsteps (ver. 3.61)18 was used to generate transformed individual person scores for all items, as this feature is not currently available in RUMM. Individual person measures for all items in Winsteps were estimated by assigning a category threshold for each item and converting raw scores to Rasch category estimates. These data were required for CFA. The compatibility of the results from the two Rasch analysis software programs was tested by comparing person measures. These results were identical with one decimal place for 94% of cases, with greater deviation only occurring for extreme responders. This deviation arises from the different assumptions used to calculate extreme results.
Confirmatory factor analysis (performed with AMOS, ver. 6; SPSS Science, Chicago, IL) was used to confirm the hypothesized structure statistically. CFA allows for assessment of the overall model fit, the statistical significance tests for theorized relations in the model, and the estimation of latent concepts free of measurement error. CFA was undertaken to assess two hypothesized measurement models based on the findings of previous exploratory investigation1 2 and similar work.19 The first, a three-factor model, comprised three latent traits: mobility and independence (11 items), emotional well-being (8 items), and reading and access to information (9 items). The second was a four-factor model that assessed the interrelationship of four latent traits: mobility and safety (6 items), emotional well-being (8 items), independence (8 items), and reading and near-vision activities (6 items).
CFA with the maximum-likelihood estimation was conducted on the calibrated person-item scores to evaluate model fit of each proposed model. A good model fit can be indicated by a nonsignificant itemtrait interaction
2 probability value. However, because the
2 test has been criticized for its dependence on sample size, a range of fit statistics were assessed. A relative
2 is usually used (ratio of
2 to degrees of freedom-
2/df) with a recommended range of 1.0 to 2.0.20 The root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) is the one of the most informative statistics in determining model fit, as it takes into account the number of variables that are estimated in the model.21 22 23 RMSEA values are required to be
0.05 to indicate good fit. Values between 0.05 and 0.08 indicate reasonable fit.21 22 23 For the incremental fit statistics (goodness of fit index: GFI; the Tucker-Lewis index: TLI; and the comparative fit index: CFI) <0.90 indicates lack of fit, between 0.90 and 0.95 indicates reasonable fit, and between 0.95 and 1.00 indicates good fit.21 22 23
The latent variables or subscales of the model identified by CFA as providing the best fit were then examined with Rasch analysis using RUMM17 with the purpose of assessing how well the subscales fit the Rasch model. Fit was evaluated by using person and item fit residual statistics, which are transformed weighted mean squares. The transformed mean squares are normally distributed with an expected value of 0 and an expected variance of 1. An itemtrait interaction score (
2) with a statistically nonsignificant probability (P > 0.05) indicates fit to the model. An estimate of person separation reliability which indicates how well the items of the instrument separate or spread out the subjects in the sample was also reported.24 The unidimensionality of the each subscale after overall fit to the Rasch model was determined using principal components analysis of the residuals available in RUMM. Unidimensionality is tested by allowing the pattern of factor loadings on the first residual to determine subsets of items. If person estimates derived from these subsets of items differ significantly from the estimates derived from the full subscale, local independence is considered to be compromised.25
| Results |
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2 = 118, P = 0.32; mean ± SD person fit residual values = 0.068 ± 0.85; mean ± SD item fit residual values = 0.203 ± 1.45 and person separation reliability = 0.95. Rasch calibrated person measures across all items were then generated and CFA was used to assess the hypothesized models. The various goodness-of-fit statistics for the two hypothesized models are shown in Table 2 . The indices showed a good fit between the IVI data and proposed measurement models. The fit indices for these two models were almost identical (Table 2) . The ratio of
2 to degrees-of-freedom value (
2/df) is 1.41 in both models and falls well within the recommended range of 1.0 to 2.0.20 The RMSEA, CFI, and TLI in both models averaged 0.5, 0.94, and 0.94, respectively, and were better than the recommended values. For both models, the goodness-of-fit index (GFI) of 0.85 was slightly less than the benchmark of 0.9.
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2 [df] = 45.9[44], P = 0.39; emotional well-being = 28.4 [32], P = 0.65; and reading and accessing information = 43.5 [36], P = 0.18). The fit residuals of all the items recorded values <2.5 and the three subscales showed mean and SD values close to 0 and 1, respectively, suggesting no misfit to the model by items and respondents. The person separation reliability scores ranged between 0.89 and 0.91, indicating a substantial ability to distinguish four strata of person ability (Table 4) . The most difficult and easiest items (in logits) for the mobility and independence subscale were: Stopped you doing the things you want to do? (0.75) and Your general safety at home? (1.42); for emotional well-being: Felt frustrated or annoyed? (1.1) and Have you felt lonely or isolated? (1.42); and for the reading and accessing information: Reading ordinary-sized print? (1.92), and Generally looking after your appearance? (1.13).
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Criterion-Related Validity
After Rasch analysis, the person measures of each subscale were used to assess the criterion validity of the subscales of the IVI. The reading and accessing information subscale recorded its strongest correlations with visual acuity, as these activities are critically dependent on near and distance vision (Table 5) . The emotional well-being factor recorded its strongest association with the mental component of the SF-12 (0.56) which includes items pertinent to emotional and mental health. Equally, the mobility and independence domain recorded its strongest association (0.43) with the physical component of the SF-12 health (PCS-12) which includes items associated with mobility. These correlations overall tend to support the definition of the new IVI subscale structure.
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using the person measures across items. The mobility and independence, emotional well-being, and reading and accessing information subscales recorded
values ranging between 0.89 and 0.91. These values are above the suggested moderate level of internal consistency among the instrument items26 and indicate that the items under each subscale consistently measure the same construct.
Scoring of the IVI Subscales
Other investigators wishing to use the IVI subscales can use these validation data to convert raw scores into Rasch person measures without having to perform Rasch analysis. This conversion mainly holds for patients with complete data. Raw scores are calculated by first reversing the scores (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) (5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0) to give better IVI scores to those experiencing less restriction of participation. The categories are then collapsed to 4(3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0) or 3(2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0), as described previously.6 Then, for each subscale the average of the items gives the IVI raw score. This score is related to the IVI Rasch person measure, as illustrated in Figure 1 . The relationship is double-asymptotic because the average raw rating has a floor and a ceiling (at 0 and 3). The relationship can be described as double-asymptotic nonlinear regression.27 The equations listed in Table 6 can be used to convert raw scores to Rasch person measures for each subscale.
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| Discussion |
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Only one factor identified a priori in the initial validation study1 (i.e., emotional well-being) was confirmed in the study. Discrepancy between the initial and current studies could be linked to different factor analysis techniques. The initial study used exploratory methods, whereas the current one used a confirmatory approach. Also, in the present study, Rasch-calibrated person measures were used compared with raw scores used in the initial study. Factor analysis of raw scores can lead to item grouping based on item difficulty. The difference in sample size could also explain the dissimilarity between the two studies. Only 86 participants were included initially, compared with 319 in the present study. It is likely that a bigger sample size provided a better capacity to undertake factor analysis, as it has been suggested that small data sets tend not to generalize as well as those derived from large samples. Tabachnick and Fidell28 have suggested that a ratio of five cases to one item is adequate. In the present study, our ratio was 10.3 compared with 3.1 in the initial study.
In this study, the use of Rasch analysis has enabled a detailed examination of the operation of the subscales. Our findings show that the three domains possess viable measurement characteristics to assess specific aspects of restriction of participation in daily activities for individuals with impaired vision. The domains also possess demonstrated reliability and validity and show no evidence of multidimensionality. Because it had been shown that the Rasch scoring method had greater precision compared with standard Likert scoring and plays an important role in improving sensitivity to change,14 29 30 our findings suggest that the greater accuracy of the Rasch-analyzed subscales could result in improved measurement of the specific outcomes of low-vision rehabilitation trials.30 31 Future studies, however, are needed to substantiate this claim.
One important finding of the new IVI domain structure is the identification of a reading and accessing information domain. Activities related to near and distance vision have consistently been associated with increased difficulty for people with low vision8 32 33 and with this revised IVI domain structure, the impact of these critical activities of daily living could be assessed individually and collectively. Of importance, a significant component of most low-vision rehabilitation programs includes the prescription of low-vision devices as well as strategies intended to improve visual functioning, and the Rasch-assessed domain structure of the IVI can now potentially assess the outcome of low-vision rehabilitation specific to reading and ability to undertake vision-dependent activities.
Finally, moderate correlations were found between the mental component of the SF-12 and the emotional well-being subscale; the physical component of the SF-12 and mobility and independence subscale; and visual acuity and the reading and access to information subscale. This finding provides further support of the new factorial model of the IVI, as the MCS-12 and PCS-12 contain several items specific to emotional well-being and mobility, respectively, and visual acuity functions are critical to distance reading and near vision performance.
In conclusion, through a confirmatory factor analysis and Rasch analysis, our examination of the dimensionality of the IVI questionnaire supported a three-subscale structure with interval level measurement characteristics likely to provide a reliable assessment of specific aspects of restriction of participation in daily living and effectiveness of rehabilitation in people with low vision. This new structure of the IVI opens the door to the exploration of three components of restriction of participation in daily living and a better understanding of the effects of different types of intervention. Future work should evaluate the sensitivity of the IVI subscales to measure outcomes of low-vision rehabilitation.
| Footnotes |
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Submitted for publication April 3, 2006; revised September 20, 2006; accepted January 5, 2007.
Disclosure: E.L. Lamoureux, None; J.F. Pallant, None; K. Pesudovs, None; G. Rees, None; J.B. Hassell, None; J.E. Keeffe, None
The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. This article must therefore be marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C.
1734 solely to indicate this fact.
Corresponding author: Ecosse L. Lamoureux, Centre for Eye Research Australia, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Melbourne, 32 Gisborne St., East Melbourne Victoria, 3002, Australia; ecosse{at}unimelb.edu.au.
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