Massof

The most commonly used models for estimating measures of latent variables from polytomous rating scale data are the Andrich rating scale model and the Samejima graded response model. The Andrich model has the undesirable property of estimating disordered rating category thresholds, and users of the model are advised to manipulate data to force thresholds to come out ordered. The Samejima model estimates ordered thresholds, but has the undesirable property of estimating person measures on a non-invariant scale-the scale depends on which items a person rates and makes comparisons across people difficult...

Purpose: We evaluated the validity of a single dry eye severity measure estimated using Rasch analysis from a battery of clinical tests and patient symptoms. Methods: This study included 203 dry eye patients and 51 controls. Administered tests included the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), tear osmolarity, Schirmer's test, noninvasive break-up time, and ocular surface staining. Each of the 12 OSDI questions and each clinical test was defined to be a separate indicator to estimate a single dry eye severity measure from Rasch analysis...

SIGNIFICANCE: Device utilization and abandonment for patients seen on a mobile clinic are explored. Findings are informative for resource allocation in a novel low vision rehabilitation (LVR) delivery model. This study also explores the relationships between device abandonment and LVR patient-reported functional outcomes. PURPOSE: This prospective cohort study investigated low vision device utilization and abandonment in a novel mobile clinic delivery model. METHODS: A device abandonment questionnaire was administered by telephone 3 months and 1 year after mobile clinic LVR...

Head-mounted video display systems and image processing as a means of enhancing low vision are ideas that have been around for more than 20 years. Recent developments in virtual and augmented reality technology and software have opened up new research opportunities that will lead to benefits for low vision patients. Since the Visionics low vision enhancement system (LVES), the first head-mounted video display LVES, was engineered 20 years ago, various other devices have come and gone with a recent resurgence of the technology over the past few years...

Violence against women and girls is an important global health concern. Numerous health organizations highlight engaging men and boys in preventing violence against women as a potentially impactful public health prevention strategy. Adapted from an international setting for use in the US, "Manhood 2.0" is a "gender transformative" program that involves challenging harmful gender and sexuality norms that foster violence against women while promoting bystander intervention (i.e., giving boys skills to interrupt abusive behaviors they witness among peers) to reduce the perpetration of sexual violence (SV) and adolescent relationship abuse (ARA)...

Importance: Examining costs and consequences of different low-vision (LV) programs provides important information about resources needed to expand treatment options efficiently. Objective: To examine the costs and consequences of LV rehabilitation or basic LV services. Design, Setting, and Participants: The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Low Vision Intervention Trial (LOVIT) II was conducted from September 27, 2010, to July 31, 2014, at 9 VA facilities and included 323 veterans with macular diseases and a best-corrected distance visual acuity of 20/50 to 20/200...

PURPOSE: To investigate the value of 3 novel autoantibodies [salivary protein 1 (SP1), carbonic anhydrase 6 (CA6), and parotid secretory protein (PSP)] in differentiating Sjögren's syndrome (SS)-related dry eye from non-SS dry eye. METHODS: Forty-six dry eye patients with SS (SS dry eye), 14 dry eye patients without SS (non-SS dry eye), and 25 controls were included. The 2012 American College of Rheumatology classification criteria were used for the diagnosis of SS...

PURPOSE: This prospective cohort study examined clinical outcomes of low vision rehabilitation (LVR) delivered by a mobile clinic. METHODS: Participants were recruited from those scheduled for mobile clinic LVR and met the United States definition of legal blindness. Participants completed the Massof Activity Inventory (AI) before LVR, 3 months post-LVR, and 1 year post-LVR. Change scores and measures of clinical effect (i.e. Cohen's effect size and minimum clinically important difference, MCID) were calculated for each time point and compared...

Importance: Updated estimates of the prevalence and incidence rates of low vision and blindness are needed to inform policy makers and develop plans to meet the future demands for low vision rehabilitation services. Objective: To provide updated estimates of the incidence and prevalence of low vision and blindness in the United States. Design, Setting, and Participants: Visual acuity measurements as a function of age from the 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, with representation of racial and ethnic groups, were used to estimate the prevalence and incidence of visual impairments...

PURPOSE: To develop and psychometrically evaluate a visual functioning questionnaire (VFQ) in an ultra-low vision (ULV) population. METHODS: Questionnaire items, based on visual activities self-reported by a ULV population, were categorized by functional visual domain (e.g., mobility) and visual aspect (e.g., contrast) to ensure a representative distribution. In Round 1, an initial set of 149 items was generated and administered to 90 participants with ULV (visual acuity [VA] ≤ 20/500; mean [SD] age 61 [15] years), including six patients with a retinal implant...

PURPOSE: To understand how individuals with profound visual impairment (ultra-low vision, ULV) use their remaining vision. METHODS: Forty-six participants with ULV (visual acuity ≤ 200/500 in the better seeing eye) were divided into nine focus groups (4-6 individuals per group) and met either in person (n = 2) or over the phone (n = 7). Discussions were guided by the Massof Activity Inventory. Audio recordings were transcribed and analyzed for visual activities that were then classified along two visual categorizations - functional domains and visual aspects...

PURPOSE: Generic instruments to assess health utilities can be used to express the burden of health problems in widely used indexes. That is in contrast with what can be obtained with condition-specific instruments, outcomes are very specific and difficult to compare across conditions. The purpose of this study was to assess health and visual outcomes and its determinants in patients with visual impairment (VI) using the EQ-5D-3L and the Activity Inventory (AI). METHODS: Participants were recruited in different hospitals during the PCVIP-study...

Purpose: To compare the efficacy of behavioral activation (BA) plus low vision rehabilitation with an occupational therapist (OT-LVR) with supportive therapy (ST) on visual function in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods: Single-masked, attention-controlled, randomized clinical trial with AMD patients with subsyndromal depressive symptoms (n = 188). All subjects had two outpatient low vision rehabilitation optometry visits, then were randomized to in-home BA + OT-LVR or ST...

PURPOSE: To understand the source of between-person variance in baseline health utilities estimated from EuroQol 5-dimension questionnaire (EQ-5D) responses of a representative sample of the US low vision outpatient population prior to rehabilitation. METHODS: A prospective, observational study of 779 new low vision patients at 28 clinic centers in the US. The EQ-5D, Activity Inventory (AI), Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS), Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) physical functioning component, and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) were administered by telephone interview prior to rehabilitation...

Importance: Randomized clinical trials are needed to compare effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of different low-vision (LV) programs. Objective: To determine the value of adding LV rehabilitation with a therapist compared with LV services without intervention. Design, Setting, and Participants: A randomized clinical trial was conducted from September 27, 2010, to July 31, 2014, of 323 veterans with macular diseases and best-corrected distance visual acuity (BCDVAbetter-eye) of 20/50 to 20/200...

OBJECTIVE: To present a method of estimating and equating scales across functional assessment instruments that appropriately represents changes in a patient's functional ability and can be meaningfully mapped to changes in Medicare G-code severity modifiers. DESIGN: Previously published measures of patients' overall visual ability, estimated from low-vision patient responses to 7 different visual function rating scale questionnaires, are equated and mapped onto Medicare G-code severity modifiers...

IMPORTANCE: To facilitate comparative clinical outcome research in low vision rehabilitation, we must use patient-centered measurements that reflect clinically meaningful changes in visual ability. OBJECTIVE: To quantify the effects of currently provided low vision rehabilitation (LVR) on patients who present for outpatient LVR services in the United States. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Prospective, observational study of new patients seeking outpatient LVR services...

PURPOSE: To compare the effects of uncorrected refractive error (URE) and nonrefractive visual impairment (VI) on performance and disability measures. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, population-based study. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 2469 individuals with binocular presenting visual acuity (PVA) of ≥ 20/80 who participated in the first round of the Salisbury Eye Evaluation study. METHODS: The URE was defined as binocular PVA of ≤ 20/30, improving to >20/30 with subjective refraction...

IMPORTANCE: Most patients with low vision are elderly and have functional limitations from other health problems that could add to the functional limitations caused by their visual impairments. OBJECTIVE: To identify factors that contribute to visual ability measures in patients who present for outpatient low vision rehabilitation (LVR) services. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: As part of a prospective, observational study of new patients seeking outpatient LVR, 779 patients from 28 clinical centers in the United States were enrolled in the Low Vision Rehabilitation Outcomes Study (LVROS) from April 25, 2008, through May 2, 2011...

PURPOSE: We evaluated the impact of glaucoma-related vision loss on reading ability and reading engagement in 10 reading activities. METHODS: A total of 63 glaucoma patients and 59 glaucoma suspect controls self-rated their level of reading difficulty for 10 reading items, and responses were analyzed using Rasch analysis to determine reading ability. Reading engagement was assessed by asking subjects to report the number of days per week they engaged in each reading activity...