Abstract
Purpose :
Survey studies have played a significant role in understanding the gaps in the knowledge and practices of health practitioners. However, there have been no such survey studies on Ocular Allergy (OA). The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a survey on OA to better understand the diagnostic, treatment, and collaborative care approaches of primary health practitioners in OA. The survey is titled; Survey on Ocular Allergy for Health Practitioners (SOAHP).
Methods :
SOAHP was developed in a five-stage process. First, item extraction via the use of a literature review, second, content validity on 15 experts in the field, third, a pilot study on 15 participants, fourth, test-retest reliability on 25 participants, and fifth, finalisation of the survey.
Results :
65 items under 6 domains were initially generated in the item extraction phase. Content validity was conducted twice to reach consensus whereby items and domains were added, edited, kept, or removed, resulting in 50 items under 7 domains. The pilot study altered the survey further to 40 items under 7 domains. Test-retest reliability was good for most investigated items. The finalised survey was 40 items under 7 domains.
Conclusions :
SOAHP is the first survey created to assess diagnostic, treatment and collaborative care approaches of Allergists, General Practitioners (GPs), Ophthalmologists, Optometrists and Pharmacists on OA. It has been validated using appropriate validation methods including content validity, pilot study and test-retest reliability based on the nature of the items. SOAHP will be a useful tool in clinical research on OA.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.