The Screening Visual Complaints questionnaire-acquired brain injury: Development and evaluation of psychometric properties in a community sample

PURPOSE: Visual complaints are a common consequence of acquired brain injury (ABI). Yet, they may be overlooked in clinical practice. The present study aims to develop a screening instrument for assessing visual complaints in individuals with ABI and evaluate its psychometrics properties in a community sample. METHODS: We constructed the Dutch Screening Visual Complaints questionnaire-acquired brain injury (SVCq-abi), a self-report 23-item questionnaire. A Dutch community sample of 1159 participants (Mean [SD] age, 60 [16] years) completed the SVCq-abi and other questionnaires on visual disturbances, executive functioning, mental health, and autistic traits. Confirmatory factor analyses were performed for 5 models (1-factor, 3-factor, 5-factor, second-order, and bifactor) on a random split of half of the sample, and cross-validated on the other half. In addition, we evaluated floor and ceiling effects, scale reliability, test-retest reliability, as well as convergent and divergent validity. RESULTS: A 5-factor structure of the SVCq-abi was adopted which showed an excellent model of fit, with all item loadings exceeding 0.5. The SVCq-abi subscales demonstrated various floor effects, acceptable scale reliability, moderate to good test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.65 to 0.73), along with sufficient convergent (r2 = 9% to 32%) and divergent validity (r2 = 2% to 13%). CONCLUSIONS: The SVCq-abi shows fundamental psychometric properties and the factor analysis provides support for a 5-factor structure. Further validation of the SVCq-abi in individuals with ABI is essential.