Abstract
Purpose: :
To conduct a pilot study to evaluate the usefulness of a survey designed to determine factors associated with eyeglass compliance in elementary school students who are members of a Native American population with a high prevalence of astigmatism.
Methods: :
A survey was developed to measure factors that may be related to compliance (using questions categorized as: self–reported compliance (SRC), aesthetics (AES), modeling (MOD), level of encouragement (LOE), and perceived benefit (PBEN)). The survey was administered to 44 2nd and 3rd grade children who attend school on the Tohono O’odham Reservation and who had been prescribed and provided with eyeglass correction for high refractive error (hyperopia ≥ 2.50 D or myopia ≥ 0.75 D in either meridian, astigmatism ≥ 1.00 D, or anisometropia > 1.50 D spherical equivalent) during the previous school year. Responses from children who were wearing glasses the day of the survey were compared to responses from children who were not wearing their glasses.
Results: :
24/44 children were wearing their eyeglasses on the day the survey was conducted. T–tests comparing mean scores on SRC, AES, MOD, LOE, and PBEN indicated that children who were wearing their glasses scored higher on SRC (p < 0.03), but there were no significant differences between groups on any of the other question categories. Logistic regression on responses to individual questions indicated that children who report that their dad reminds them to wear glasses were significantly more likely to be wearing glasses. In addition, children who reported that family members like their glasses a lot, that their dad wears glasses, that their teacher reminds them to wear glasses, and children who reported that they see better with glasses on were more likely to be wearing their glasses, although these effects failed to reach statistical significance (Ps < 0.10). Items that did not appear to be associated with eyeglass wear were: if the child liked his/her frames, whether or not friends liked their glasses, whether or not friends wore glasses, whether or not mom reminded them to wear their glasses, and whether or not the glasses help them read or see the board better.
Conclusions: :
The results of the pilot study were promising, and suggest that surveys such as the one conducted here may be a valuable tool for helping to identify important factors associated with eyeglass wearing compliance. Further study and development of the questionnaire may provide more definitive results and insights into the factors most strongly associated with eyeglass wear.
Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: treatment/prevention assessment/controlled clinical trials