Abstract
Purpose::
To determine if a slight change in wordings of questions will result in different response to "sleeping" with daily wear contact lenses.
Methods::
Two questionnaires with only one question differing between the two were developed. Questionnaire "A" included the question "Have you ever fallen asleep in your lenses?" Questionnaire "B" posed the question "Do you ever sleep in your lenses?" Each of those questions had the choice of "yes", "no", and "maybe once or twice." The rest of the questions referred to lens wearing schedules. Over a nine month period each daily wear soft contact lens patient at the Atwater Eye Care Center and the Community Eye Care Center in Bloomington, Indiana was asked to complete one of the two questionnaires.
Results::
A total of 66 questionnaires were returned; 29 from Questionnaire A, 37 from Questionnaire B. Of the 29 questionnaires returned from group A, 16 answered "Yes", 4 answered "No", 9 answered "Maybe once or twice." Of the 37 from group B, 6 answered "Yes", 17 answered "No", 14 answered "Maybe once or twice." Ninety three percent of the subjects from both groups had worn their lenses for more then 6 months. Sixty nine percent of group A and fifty seven percent of group B subjects wore their lenses on the average for more then 12 hours per day.
Conclusions::
When asking patients about their overnight wear of contact lenses, the words used are important. Asking "Do you ever sleep in your lenses?" may result in more negative responses than asking "Have you ever fallen asleep in your lenses?"