Development of a Questionnaire to Assess Subjective Vision Score in Myopes Seeking Refractive Surgery

ABSTRACT PURPOSE: To assess vision in patients with myopia and myopic astigmatism before and after refractive surgery. METHODS: A prospective controlled study of visual quality amongst myopes and astigmatic myopes. Focus groups, ophthalmic surgeons, and questionnaire experts devised a Subjective Vision Questionnaire (SVQ), modified after a pilot trial. Participants were administered the SVQ before clinical evaluation. Items answered by over 95%, with factor loadings >0.55 were included. Test-retest reliability was assessed by repeat testing. Factor analysis identified groups of questions measuring particular dimensions of data. RESULTS: Sixty-seven items were answered by 128 patients and reduced to 24 items in a final questionnaire. Factor analysis identified six types of questions within the questionnaire, the most important of which was related to driving. CONCLUSION: The simplicity, low cost, and psychometric properties of the Subjective Vision Questionnaire support its use clinically and in research. [J Refract Surg 2004;20:10-19]