Parents’ Awareness And Perception Of Children’s Refractive Error. A Qualitative Study

@#Uncorrected refractive error is the leading cause of moderate and severe visual impairment across the globe. An important driver for early detection and management of refractive errors among children is appropriate parental awareness. This study aims to understand the awareness and perception among parents of children with refractive errors utilizing the conceptual framework of Health Belief Model. This qualitative study focused to conduct semi-structured interviews of parents who sought eye care for their children. Thirty-five parents who visited an eye care center for refractive error correction of their children between 5 to 15 years of age were purposively selected. The four constructs of the Health Belief Model (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits and perceived barriers) were applied to prepare the interview guide. The voice records of participants were transcribed verbatim, coded and qualitatively analyzed to generate relevant themes. All participants were well aware of refractive errors and the implications of them on the visual and social development of children if they leave the errors untreated. However,there were varying perception about refractive error leading to serious consequences. The enanced quality of life with proper refractive correction prompted parents to seek timely eyecare for their children.

Reliability of a modified logMAR distant visual acuity chart for routine clinical use

Acuity charts that follow the principle of logarithmic size progression [logMAR charts] are considered to be the gold standard for the assessment of distant vision. But it is not well accepted for routine eye examinations due to increased testing time and the complexity of scoring. This study was designed to check whether a modified logMAR chart with three optotypes would provide a reliable acuity assessment compared to standard logMAR charts for routine eye examination. Two versions of modified and standard logMAR charts were designed, constructed, and used to assess the visual acuity of 50 individuals drawn from a typical out-patient population. Timed test-retest variability and limit of agreement [95% confidence limit of agreement] of the modified chart are compared to the standard logMAR chart using Bland-Altman method. A comparison of the testing time was carried out using paired t-test. The test-retest variability of the charts was comparable, with 95% confidence limit of the mean difference being +/- 0.08 for standard logMAR and +/- 0.10 for modified logMAR. Both the versions of modified logMAR charts produced the results which agreed well with those of the standard logMAR charts. The mean testing time required to complete the acuity measurements with the modified chart was significantly lesser compared to the standard chart [P < 0.001]. The outcomes of the current study demonstrates that the modified logMAR chart with three optotypes offers a comparable result to the standard logMAR charts for assessing distant visual acuity in routine clinical examination set up with a much lesser testing time