Date Presented 04/04/19
The original Self-Report Assessment of Functional Visual Performance (SRAFVP) was first developed in 1995. It contained 38 functionally based items that were frequently encountered in daily life at that time. Now, technology has greatly changed how we function on a day-to-day basis, necessitating changes to the SRAFVP in order to ensure its ongoing relevance. This two-part research project was used to update the questions and bring the test into the twenty-first century.
Primary Author and Speaker: Marlene Snow
Additional Authors and Speakers: Cheryl Zemina
PURPOSE: The R-SRAFVP is a standardized self-care assessment that focuses on vision-dependent ADLs.(Snow, 2018) It measures the tasks that older adults with eye disease have difficulty performing. New items included in the R-SRAFVP reflect today’s digital technology that more older-adults are using. A two part research study was completed to establish the content validity as well as the construct validity of the revised assessment.
DESIGN/METHOD: The content validation is a quasi-experimental research study, recruiting OT low vision experts from the database at University of Alabama at Birmingham. A cross-sectional survey research design was used to establish construct validity of the R-SRAFVP for older adults with low vision. The content validity portion was completed through three in-depth interviews with low vision occupational therapists. Their feedback was used to delete some items, modify other items and to add new items, creating a first draft of a revised SRAFVP. The draft revision was then assessed by eight additional low vision occupational therapists, creating a second revision. This second revision was then tested by 5 “low vision experts”, consisting of adults in the community experiencing functional deficits due to low vision. For construct validity, 102 participants were recruited from low vision practices in 3 geographical regions. The 50 question assessment was completed in three low vision practices by therapists formally educated in low vision rehabilitation. Each therapist was trained to ensure inter-rater reliability.
RESULTS: The content validity portion of the revised SRAFVP, at the end of phase one, contained 15 reworded items, 26 new items and 18 unchanged items. In stage two, 9 items were deleted. This left the SRAFVP at 50 items, when it was passed to the second researcher for further analysis. The construct validity research showed that the R-SRAFVP should be reduced to 33 questions covering 9 components. Following the clinical testing, several questions relating to computer usage were combined with other questions. Several questions were moved to different areas of the assessment due to results of the statistical analysis.
CONCLUSION: Content and construct validity was supported by the findings that participants with vision loss reported difficulty completing and the therapists that work with this group reported. This update was important to keep the much used assessment relevant to the more computer savvy population that is experiencing vision loss. AOTA is committed to advancing the use of evidence-based research and practice in order to maintain our relevance and effectiveness as a profession. This research strengthens occupational therapists' abilities to access an evidence-based, functionally-related assessment for low vision.
References
Snow, M., Warren, M., Yuen, H., (2018). Construct Validation: Revised Self-Report Assessment of Functional Visual Performance (R-SRAFVP). American Occupational Therapy. July/August 2018, Volume 72, Number 4.
Velozo, C.A., Warren, M., Hicks, E., & Berger, K.A. (2013). Generating clinical outputs for self-reports of visual functioning. Optometry and Vision Science, 90, 765-775. PubMed
Warren M. & Barstow, E. A. (2011). Occupational therapy interventions for adults with low vision. Bethesda, MD: AOTA press.
Zemina, c., Warren, M., Yuen, H., (2018). Revised Self-Report Assessment of Functional Visual Performance: Content Validation. American Occupational Therapy. July/August 2018, Volume 72, Number 4.
