The eye-complaint questionnaire in a visual display unit work environment: internal consistency and test-retest...

Area of Science:

• Occupational health
• Ophthalmology
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Prolonged visual display unit (VDU) use is common in office environments.
• VDU work can lead to various eye complaints.
• Reliable assessment tools are needed to measure these complaints.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the 10-item eye-complaint questionnaire (ECQ).
• To determine the suitability of the ECQ for assessing eye complaints in office workers.

Main Methods:

• The ECQ was administered to 96 office workers with >4 hours of daily VDU work.
• Measures were repeated within-subject over single day, 1-day, and 7-day intervals.
• Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) and test-retest reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient, ICC) were calculated.

Main Results:

• The ECQ demonstrated high internal consistency (alpha = 0.801).
• Test-retest reliability was low within a single day (ICC = 0.68).
• Good reliability was observed over 1-day (ICC = 0.91) and 7-day (ICC = 0.87) intervals for morning measurements. Moderate reliability was found for afternoon measurements over 1 week (ICC = 0.78).

Conclusions:

• The ECQ is a reliable and consistent instrument for assessing eye complaints in office settings.
• Measurement timing is crucial, as daily exposures can influence results.
• The ECQ is suitable for research and clinical use in occupational eye health.