Building Consensus about the Functional Vision Assessment Process: A Delphi Study

Abstract

Introduction: Within the field of visual impairment, there is no set of standards that guide teachers of students with visual impairments as they conduct, report, and share functional vision assessment (FVA) results with other educational team members, and university instructors vary in how they teach the assessment process to preservice teachers. Methods: In parallel, a group of teachers of students with visual impairments and a group of university instructors completed three rounds of a Delphi study. After providing background information in Round 1, they rated 84 statements about the FVA process. The level for consensus was set at 80%. Results: Of the 84 statements, consensus was reached for 45 statements regarding the level of importance by both groups. Participants rated 11 of 22 visual skills (e.g., near acuity, distance acuity) as extremely important to include in the FVA process. Discussion: There continues to be a need to build consensus on when FVAs should be conducted, what visual skills should be included when conducting them, what should be included in reports, and with whom assessment information should be shared. The importance of conducting such assessments for all students, including students under the age of 5 years and those with additional disabilities, needs to be recognized by the field of visual impairment. Implications for practitioners: University personnel need to work together to develop consistent curricula that focuses on the FVA process. Future studies that examine the FVA practices of individual teachers are necessary.

Development of a new curriculum framework for children and young people with vision impairment: A United Kingdom consultation using the Delphi approach

“…This method has been used extensively in various disciplines, including in the field of vision impairment education (e.g., Corn & Koenig, 2002; Kaiser et al, 2020; Tellefson et al, 2019; Wall Emerson & Corn, 2006), and allows researchers to purposefully identify a representative group of ‘experts’ (Corn & Koenig, 2002) as panellists. This was particularly important as we sought to engage with, and capture the views of, a wide range of stakeholders with specialist expertise in vision impairment education from across the UK.…”

“…It does this by systematically drawing on a group of panellists selected for their expertise on the topic, returning to the same panel members over multiple rounds of consultation, each time refining the outcomes until the point at which a common consensus is formed (Linstone & Turoff, 2002;Stone Fish & Busby, 2005). This method has been used extensively in various disciplines, including in the field of vision impairment education (e.g., Corn & Koenig, 2002;Kaiser et al, 2020;Tellefson et al, 2019;Wall Emerson & Corn, 2006), and allows researchers to purposefully identify a representative group of 'experts' (Corn & Koenig, 2002) as panellists. This was particularly important as we sought to engage with, and capture the views of, a wide range of stakeholders with specialist expertise in vision impairment education from across the UK.…”

Exploring States’ Variations in Prevalence and Eligibility Criteria for Students With Visual Impairments Including Blindness

“…In a recent survey of more than 300 TVIs (Kaiser & Herzberg, 2017), the majority of TVIs felt that there were some gaps, many gaps, or the TVIs received no training in how to conduct functional vision assessments in their university programs. Furthermore, TVIs significantly vary on the tools used for conducting these assessments (Kaiser & Herzberg, 2021) and the field has yet to establish standards of practice or consistent curricula regarding functional vision assessments (Kaiser et al, 2020). Without standards of practice, the quality of students' functional vision assessments remains questionable.…”

Components of Valid Learning Media Assessments

“…Each round of voting and modifying the questionnaire based on panelist votes and comments aids in the consensus building process (Avella, 2016; Colton & Hatcher, 2004). Delphi studies have previously been used to establish content or face validity for motor skill perception questionnaires (Stribing et al, 2022) and to set standards that guide teachers of students with visual impairments in the functional vision assessment (FVA) process (Kaiser et al, 2020). A Delphi study was used to establish the content to be included on the Birth to 6 Orientation and Mobility Skills Inventory (B6OMSI; Baguhn, 2021).…”