Eye Care Quality and Accessibility Improvement in the Community (EQUALITY): impact of an eye health education program on patient knowledge about glaucoma and attitudes about eye care

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Patient Relat Outcome Meas
• Personal Author:
  Rhodes, Lindsay A ; Huisingh, Carrie E ; McGwin, Gerald ; Mennemeyer, Stephen T ; Bregantini, Mary ; Patel, Nita ; Saaddine, Jinan ; Crews, John E ; Girkin, Christopher A ; Owsley, Cynthia
• Description:
  Purpose
  
  To assess the impact of the education program of the Eye Care Quality and Accessibility Improvement in the Community (EQUALITY) telemedicine program on at-risk patients’ knowledge about glaucoma and attitudes about eye care as well as to assess patient satisfaction with EQUALITY.
  
  Patients and methods
  
  New or existing patients presenting for a comprehensive eye exam (CEE) at one of two retail-based primary eye clinics were enrolled based on ≥1 of the following at-risk criteria for glaucoma: African Americans ≥40 years of age, Whites ≥50 years of age, diabetes, family history of glaucoma, and/or preexisting diagnosis of glaucoma. A total of 651 patients were enrolled. A questionnaire was administered prior to the patients’ CEE and prior to the patients receiving any of the evidence-based eye health education program; a follow-up questionnaire was administered 2–4 weeks later by phone. Baseline and follow-up patient responses regarding knowledge about glaucoma and attitudes about eye care were compared using McNemar’s test. Logistic regression models were used to assess the association of patient-level characteristics with improvement in knowledge and attitudes. Overall patient satisfaction was summarized.
  
  Results
  
  At follow-up, all patient responses in the knowledge and attitude domains significantly improved from baseline (P≤0.01 for all questions). Those who were unemployed (odds ratio =0.63, 95% confidence interval =0.42–0.95, P=0.026) or had lower education (odds ratio =0.55, 95% confidence interval =0.29–1.02, P=0.058) were less likely to improve their knowledge after adjusting for age, sex, race, and prior glaucoma diagnosis. This association was attenuated after further adjustment for other patient-level characteristics. Ninety-eight percent (n=501) of patients reported being likely to have a CEE within the next 2 years, whereas 63% (n=326) had a CEE in the previous 2 years. Patient satisfaction with EQUALITY was high (99%).
  
  Conclusion
  
  Improved knowledge about glaucoma and a high intent to pursue eye care may lead to improved detection of early disease, thus lowering the risk of blindness.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Blindness Prevention Original Research Patient-related Outcome Patient Satisfaction Telemedicine
• Source:
  Patient Relat Outcome Meas. 2016; 7:37-48.
• Pubmed ID:
  27274329
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4877018
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Volume:
  7
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:89ebda6267b1bd3258ad08842e8a89f0a209d5a467ec941ca90672676ade09de
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/39949/cdc_39949_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 294.83 KB ]