Development and validation of a health practitioner survey on ocular allergy

Abstract

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). Thus, the purpose of this study was to develop and validate a survey on OA to better understand the gaps in the diagnostic, treatment, and collaborative care approaches of health practitioners in OA. The survey is titled “Survey on Ocular Allergy for Health Practitioners (SOAHP)”. SOAHP was developed in a five-stage process. First, item extraction via the use of a literature review, second, face and content validity, third, a pilot study, fourth, test–retest reliability, and fifth, finalisation of the survey. 65 items under 6 domains were initially generated in the item extraction phase. Content validity was conducted on 15 experts in the field. This 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 was conducted on 15 participants from the five relevant health practitioner fields (Allergists/Immunologists, General Practitioners (GPs), Ophthalmologists, Optometrists and Pharmacists). This altered the survey further to 40 items under 7 domains. Test–retest reliability was conducted on 25 participants from the five health practitioner fields. Reliability was moderate to almost perfect for most (97%) investigated items. The finalised survey was 40 items under 7 domains. SOAHP is the first survey created to assess diagnostic, treatment and collaborative care approaches of Allergists/Immunologists, GPs, Ophthalmologists, Optometrists and Pharmacists on OA. SOAHP will be a useful tool in clinical research on OA.