Reliability and validity of the Turkish version of The Digital Eye Strain Questionnaire

Abstract

Background: The rapid spread of digital technologies has become important in work and social life. However, prolonged use of digital screens, such as digital eye strain, negatively affects individuals. This has increased the importance of using valid and reliable scales to assess digital eye strain.

Methods: To adapt the Digital Eye Strain Questionnaire (DESQ) into Turkish for validity and reliability. This study followed a methodological research design in accordance with the EQUATOR checklist. This methodological study was conducted in Istanbul with 401 individuals continuously exposed to digital screens for at least 2 h. Data were collected via the sociodemographic characteristics form, DESQ, and the Problematic Internet Use Scale (PIUS). The study was conducted in five consecutive stages: direct translation, synthesis of translations, back translation, expert committee evaluation, and validity and reliability analysis.

Results: Individuals spent an average of 6.66 ± 3.20 h per day in front of a digital screen. The content validity index of the DESQ was found to be 0.962, and the confirmatory factor analysis results, the model's fit indices were high and statistically significant (χ2 = 161.689, sd = 62). The reliability analysis revealed that the Kuder‒Richardson 20 value was 0.787, and the item‒total correlation values ranged between 0.306 and 0.517. The parallel form correlation between the DESQ and PIUS scores revealed statistically significant relationships between the subdimensions and total scores.

Conclusions: The results prove that the Turkish version of the DESQ is valid and reliable for assessing digital eye strain.

Keywords: Digital eye strain; Digital screen; Reliability; Scale adaptation; Validity.

Fig. 1

Flowchart of the translation and cross-cultural adaptation stages of DES-Q© into Turkish

Fig. 2

Path diagram and factor loadings for the validated model (Standardized Estimates)