Quality of Life and its Predictors among Persons with Visual Disabilities in Sri Lanka: Development of a New Measure

Despite being the most prevalent functional disability in the world, there is a notable absence of Quality of Life (QoL) assessment tools for persons with visual disabilities in developing nations. As QoL is a subjective notion that varies considerably among distinct communities, having a universal tool for its assessment may neglect concerns pertinent to specific groups. Nevertheless, for QoL to be improved it should be measured first. Existing instruments cannot be employed since most of them are tailored for western populations where the social and cultural contexts differ significantly. Hence, this study intends to develop and validate a comprehensive instrument to assess the QoL of persons with visual disabilities, in connection to the socioeconomic norms and cultural aspects common in low and middle-income nations, by taking Sri Lanka as a case. The measure is created using a multi-step procedure that includes content development, content validation, pilot testing, and psychometric evaluation. This resulted in a 14-item instrument developed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, which reveals that the QoL of a person with visual disability in Sri Lanka is primarily determined by their level of inclusion, access to services, opportunities for growth, mindset, and life stability. The novel measure demonstrates acceptable fit with adequate levels of internal consistency, convergent validity, and discriminant validity, proving it to be a reliable and valid tool for assessing the QoL of persons with visual disabilities in Sri Lanka and similar economies.