Development and validation of a questionnaire assessing the quality of life impact of Colour Blindness (CBQoL)

Abstract

BackgroundCongenital colour vision deficiency (CVD), commonly called ‘colour blindness’, affects around 8% of men and 0.4% of women. Although many aspects of health (e.g. change in colour of urine) and healthcare (e.g. coloured medication, colour-coded diagnostic tests), and modern life depend upon colour coding (e.g. graphs, maps, signals), the impact of colour blindness on everyday life is not generally considered a topic of importance. This study is the first to create and validate a questionnaire measuring the quality of life (QoL) impact of being colour blind.MethodsThis study consisted of two phases. Firstly, the questionnaire design and development phase was led by an expert panel and piloted on a focus group. Secondly, an online sample of 128 men and 291 women filled in the questionnaire, and the psychometric properties of the questionnaire were analysed using principal components analysis (PCA). The scores of colour blind (CB) participants and normal-sighted controls, controlling for age and sex, were compared using matched t-tests.ResultsThe PCA resulted in a questionnaire with three domains (or subscales): QoL for Health & Lifestyle, QoL for Work, and QoL for Emotions. Controlling for age, there was a significantly greater negative impact on QoL for CB people than normal-sighted controls in regards to confusion over colour in various aspects of their health (p = 5 × 10−7), work (p = 1.3 × 10−7), and emotional life (p = 6 × 10−5).ConclusionColour blindness can significantly impact quality of life for health, emotions, and especially careers. The tool developed here could be useful in future clinical studies to measure changes in CBQoL in response to therapy in conditions where colour vision is affected. We also discuss ways in which everyday problems related to colour vision might be reduced, for example, workplaces could avoid colour coding where a non-colour alternative is possible.

Enfeeblement in Essential Tremor: Development and Validation of a New Psychometric Measure

“…Afterward, survey items underwent principal component analysis using Varimax rotation and Kaiser normalization, and components were extracted based on both scree plot inspection and eigenvalues >1. 49 Internal consistency was determined using Cronbach a coefficient, with a score >0.70 considered adequate. 50 Convergent Validity.…”

“…48 According to the principal component analysis, approximately 66.9% of the variance observed in the ETES can be accounted for by a single component, and no other components could adequately be extracted (eigenvalues <1). 49 As such, internal consistency between all questions was calculated, resulting in a Cronbach a coefficient of 0.92, which is well above the 0.70 threshold. 50 Although Cronbach a coefficient scores above 0.90 may raise concern for redundancy between questions, 50,51 we believe that at face value each question offers a unique perspective of enfeeblement in ET.…”

Moderate perinatal thyroid hormone insufficiency alters visual system function in adult rats

“…Quality of life indicators for colorblind individuals are significantly impaired. Colorblind individuals experience variety of problems ranging from inability to read colored maps and charts, difficulty buying clothes, driving, selecting ripe fruits and so on (Barry et al, 2017). Career limitations, such as inability to become pilots or firemen, and impaired performance in jobs that do not obviously depend on color discriminations, may be particularly pernicious.…”

Colour vision testing in young children with reduced visual acuity

“…Colour vision, although rarely of primary concern in clinical ophthalmology care, is an integral part of our visual system, essential in many daily life situations (Cole et al 2004;Cole & Lian 2006;Kugler et al 2015) with a significant impact on quality of life (Barry et al 2017) and a prerequisite for selected occupations (Margrain et al 1996;Cole 2004). Today's printed teaching aids and modern media such as tablets or computers are increasingly based on colour codes as informal identifiers to illustrate learning material.…”