PURPOSE
To develop a patient self-administered questionnaire assessing the added value of complete independence from spectacles (hereafter referred to as glasses) after multifocal intraocular lens (IOL) surgery.
METHODS
Exploratory interviews with five cataract patients and six presbyopic patients with AcrySof ReSTOR IOLs (Alcon Laboratories Inc) implanted in both eyes for at least 6 months were conducted. The questionnaire’s conceptual framework was developed after interview analysis. Based on the identified concepts, items were generated simultaneously in French and Spanish using patients’ own words, and comprehension tested with six French patients; the Spanish questionnaire underwent clinician review and was further tested with four Spanish patients. French and Spanish versions were accordingly refined. The questionnaire was linguistically validated in UK English and Danish.
RESULTS
Interview analysis resulted in the identification of 9 global concepts: global vision, practical constraints related to wearing glasses, impact of eye surgery on the patient’s life, improvement of practical issues without glasses, improvement of psychological constraints without glasses, physical appearance/aesthetic aspect, self-image and in the eyes of others, eyesight problems left behind after surgery, and recommendation of surgery to others. The initial version of the test questionnaire contained 23 items; 2 items were deleted and changes were made after clinician review and patient testing. The final questionnaire named Freedom from Glasses Value Scale (FGVS) contained 21 items and four general additional questions.
CONCLUSIONS
Beyond functional aspects, this qualitative study identified additional benefits in cataract and presbyopic patients living free of glasses after receiving multifocal IOLs. The FGVS now needs to be psychometrically validated (eg, construct validity and reliability). [J Refract Surg. 2010;26(6):438-446.]
AUTHORS
From Ophthalmology Center of Arceaux, Montpellier, France (Lévy); Ophthalmology Institute, Barcelona, Spain (Elies); Medical and Surgical Ophthalmology, Rungsted Eye Clinic, Rungsted Kyst, Denmark (Dithmer); Mapi Research Institute, Lyon (Gil-Campos); Mapi Values, Lyon, France (Benmedjahed, Arnould); and Laboratoires Alcon S.A., Rueil-Malmaison, France (Berdeaux).
This study was funded by an unrestricted grant from Laboratoires Alcon S.A., Rueil-Malmaison, France.
Dr Arnould, Ms Benmedjahed, and Ms Gil-Campos are paid consultants to Alcon Laboratories. Dr Berdeaux is an employee of Laboratoires Alcon S.A. The remaining authors have no proprietary interest in the materials presented herein.
The authors thank Dr David Allen for his participation in the recruitment of patients in the United Kingdom (UK) and for the linguistic validation of the instrument in UK English; Dr Simon Coulon for the recruitment of patients in France; and Marc Vigneux and Claire Colussi, who conducted the interviews. The authors also thank Isabelle Guillemin (Mapi Values) for writing and reviewing the manuscript and the English native linguist, Nicola Barnes (Mapi Values), for reviewing the manuscript.
The Freedom from Glasses Value Scale (FGVS) is protected by copyright with all rights reserved to Alcon Laboratories Inc. Do not use without permission. For information or permission to use FGVS, contact Mapi Research Trust, 27 rue de la Villette, 69003 Lyon, France. Tel: 33 04 72 13 65 75; E-mail: trust@mapi.fr; Website: www.mapi-trust.org
Correspondence: Benoit Arnould, PhD, 27 rue de la Villette, 69003 Lyon, France. Tel: 33 04 72 13 69 53; Fax: 33 04 72 13 51 40; E-mail: barnould@mapi.fr
Received: October 27, 2008; Accepted: June 30, 2009
Posted online: August 3, 2009
doi:10.3928/1081597X-20090728-03
