Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: Several methods have been used to evaluate patients' visual activities. Because the onset of myopia in childhood occurs between 8 and 15 years of age, it is of interest to assess the visual activities of children in this age group. The purpose of this study was to compare results obtained using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) and questionnaires to assess visual activities in a group of children. Methods: The child (n=31) and one parent (n=30) were asked to complete pre-study questionnaires regarding the visual activities of the child. The children and parents were instructed not to consult one another while completing the questionnaires. The ESM was used to obtain prospective data on visual activities. The children were paged after school on weekdays and all day on Saturday and Sundays. Every child was paged four times each weekday and eight times each weekend day for a total of fourteen days. When paged, the children were asked to respond to questions via a telephone voicemail survey describing the nature, duration, and visual correction worn for each visual activity at the time of the page. Percentages of time the child spent in each visual category were calculated based on a 12-hour awake day. Results: *Sum of four near work categories; 1Using 12 hours/day to calculate percentages for child's and parent's report; 2p-value obtained from Wilcoxon sign rank test. Alpha level = 0.01 was used for significance after adjusting for multiple comparisons. Conclusions: Although significant differences between questionnaires and ESM were found for talking for both parents' and children's reports and doing chores for parents' report, no significant differences between the two methods were detected in near work categories. Comparing child's and parent's reports to observed times with the ESM