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

BMC Ophthalmology

Research Article

John A. Barry¹  Michael A. Burdon²  Susan Mollan²  Alastair K. Denniston³  Michelle Jenkins⁴ 

[1] Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, WC1E 6BT, London, UK;Department of Psychology, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK;Department of Ophthalmology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, B15 2WB, Birmingham, UK;Department of Ophthalmology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, B15 2WB, Birmingham, UK;Academic Unit of Ophthalmology, Institute of Inflammation & Ageing, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT, Birmingham, UK;Department of Psychology, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK;

关键词: Colour vision deficiency;    Colour blind;    Quality of life;    Psychology;    Questionnaire;    Factor analysis;    Principal components analysis;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12886-017-0579-z

 received in 2017-03-14, accepted in 2017-09-25,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

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.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017