An update on the Eye-tem Bank project: a novel and comprehensive quality of life measurement system

Session Details

Session Title: Special Cases II

Session Date/Time: Monday 07/09/2015 | 17:00-18:30

Paper Time: 17:00

Venue: Room 11

First Author: : K.Pesudovs AUSTRALIA

Co Author(s): :    J. Khadka   E. Fenwick   E. Lamoureux              

Abstract Details

Purpose:

The Eye-tem Bank project aims to develop and test technologically advanced and comprehensive quality of life (QoL) measuring instruments in the form of item banking implemented via a computer adaptive testing (CAT) system for all eye diseases suitable for all population worldwide.

Setting:

Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide: the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide; the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Melbourne; Ashford Advanced Eye Clinic, Adelaide; Adelaide Eye and Retina Centre; Adelaide.

Methods:

The first wave of the project targets 13 disease categories: age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy (DR), retinal detachment (RD) , other vitreo-retinal, cornea, refractive error, cataract, amblyopia & strabismus, lacrimal & ocular surface, inflammation other than uveitis, uveitis spectrum of diseases and neuro-ophthalmic. Each disease-specific module undergoes four phases of development: Phase I: Content identification (literature and patient consultation); Phase II: Pilot testing the initial item sets for item calibration using Rasch analysis; Phase III: Validation of the module implemented via a CAT system; and Phase IV: Evaluating QoL impact to develop disease-specific normative values.

Results:

A total of 468 patients with 10 different eye diseases participated in 52 disease-specific focus groups and 247 interviews. A detailed qualitative analysis of the data identified disease-specific items. When reconciled against the items identified in literature, a total of 3179 unique items have been identified across 10 disease-specific modules. The total number of items between modules ranges from 302 to 349. Phase I data collection for 3 remaining modules (cataract, refractive error and neuro-ophthalmic) is ongoing. Phase II of DR and glaucoma have been completed and both the pilot instruments demonstrated promising psychometric properties when analysed with Rasch analysis.

Conclusions:

The pilot items of the Glaucoma and DR modules have been calibrated using Rasch analysis to setup computer algorithms for the CAT system. These disease-specific CAT-based systems will be implemented for further validation and reliability testing. All the other modules of the Eye-tem Bank project are following the same development steps. A web-based CAT system will provide high quality measurement of ophthalmic QoL worldwide.

Financial Interest:

NONE