ORVIS – A directory of tools for vision rehabilitation
Funded between 2013-2016 (Marie-Chantal Wanet-Defalque) and since 2016 (Walter Wittich)
Goal
The ORVIS infrastructure aims to facilitate the development and availability of measurement tools with proven validity and fidelity. These tools must be available in French, or in French and English, and be suitable for use with the visually impaired population, by researchers or by practitioners. They must enable functional, perceptual, cognitive and psychological assessment of the population concerned.
Description
The ORVIS – Outils pour la Réadaptation de la VISion – infrastructure lists and documents tools that correspond to these criteria, develops or adapts others, and then publicizes them via an electronic platform.
The home page presents the directory’s mandate and organization, and then offers access to the files, a glossary, a link to a page devoted to tags for interpreting coefficients, and a list of the papers ORVIS has published.
The tools are organized into categories inspired by the International Classification of Functioning (ICF). The directory lists more than 50 tools, with descriptive sheets presenting their characteristics, components and metric properties as documented in the scientific literature. It can also provide a brief description of the tool and a reference to a file listed in a reliable external source. ORVIS data sheets are available online free of charge and are fully accessible to the visually impaired.
The directory is guided by an advisory committee, which oversees orientations, tool selection criteria, the form and content of the sheets, and the communication plan.
Impact
The ORVIS directory, specific to the visually impaired clientele, increases the accessibility of information on valid instruments for researchers and clinicians active in the fields of visual impairment and rehabilitation in the French-speaking world. The tools it contains encourage the production of quality studies, as well as improved management of vision rehabilitation users, and their autonomy and social integration.
Statistics compiled using Google Analytics between November 1, 2015, when the directory went online, and September 30, 2023, attest to more than 95,000 page views by some 60,000 users, nearly half of whom are located in France.
Accessibility
ORVIS can be accessed at www.orvis.vision. Its files comply with the Government of Quebec’s standard on accessibility for people with and without disabilities.
Administrator
Walter Wittich, Ph. D., FAAO, CLVT, École d’optométrie, Université de Montréal – Chercheur du CRIR – Responsable de sites CRIR : INLB et MAB-Mackay
Contact information
Walter Wittich – walter.wittich@umontreal.ca
Sylvie Cantin – sylvie.cantin.inlb@ssss.gouv.qc.ca
Funding
Vision Health Research Network and Institut Nazareth et Louis-Braille du CISSS de la Montérégie-Centre.
Geographical origin of ORVIS visitors since 2015
