African American Patient Preferences for Glaucoma Education

Abstract

Purpose The objectives of the study were to examine: (a) the types of questions that African American patients have about glaucoma for their providers and (b) how patients’ socio-demographic characteristics are associated with where and from whom they would like to learn about glaucoma and glaucoma medications. Methods Forty-nine Adult African American patients with glaucoma were recruited at a private ophthalmology clinic where they completed a questionnaire for this cross-sectional study. Results African American patients had a mean of 3.9 questions for their ophthalmologists; the questions that patients checked as having most often were “What is my prognosis with glaucoma?” (49%) and “What is my intraocular pressure?” (45%). Seventy-six percent of patients preferred that an educational program about glaucoma be offered at the doctor's office and 39% preferred it be offered at a community or senior citizen center. Ninety percent said that the education program should be offered by doctors. Patients under the age of seventy were significantly more likely to want a program on the Internet than patients age seventy and over (Pearson chi-square=4.7, p=0.03). If an educational program was developed patients reported being most interested in the following topics, glaucoma medications (84%), what is glaucoma and what does it mean to have it (83%). Conclusions African American patients have many questions about glaucoma for their eye care providers. African American patients would prefer glaucoma educational programs be offered at their provider's office. Our findings could be used to develop educational programs for African American patients with glaucoma.

Acceptance of a Pre-visit Intervention to Engage African American Glaucoma Patients during Visits

“…21,22 Therefore, by focusing on increasing patient confidence to be engaged during visits, this approach might have contributed to why patients rated the intervention as being useful. 19 In our larger ongoing randomized controlled trial where we are following patients for 1 year, we will be able to investigate if the intervention increases self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Fifty-eight percent of patients felt as though the educational video made them feel more confident to talk with their provider, and 58% stated that the video helped them feel more knowledgeable about their glaucoma.…”

“…Initially, we developed our glaucoma question prompt list (e.g., the one-page list of questions patients might want to ask their provider) using the transcripts of actual videotaped glaucoma visits from a National Eye Institute Study that included patients from six ophthalmology clinics 18 . Next, we showed the 1-page 18-item question prompt list to 49 African American patients with glaucoma who were recruited at a private ophthalmology clinic to examine the number and types of questions patients had checked to see which questions were checked most often 19 …”

“…The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality encourages the use of patient question prompt lists to increase patient involvement during visits 17 . In our formative work, we developed the “glaucoma question prompt list” intervention with the input of glaucoma patients 18,19 . In addition to the question prompt list, we also developed a short educational video (approximately 11 minutes) that stresses the importance of patient involvement during glaucoma visits 20 …”

The TβR II-targeted aptamer S58 prevents fibrosis after glaucoma filtration surgery

“…GFS is the main clinical treatment for refractory glaucoma [4]. However, patients with controlled IOP may still suffer from filtering surgery failure due to excessive scar formation of the overlying Figure 7.…”

“…Glaucoma is a common disease of the elderly and one of the most common causes of irreversible blindness worldwide, affecting patients' visual function and quality of life [1][2][3]. Glaucoma filtration surgery (GFS) is the most effective treatment for drug-refractory glaucoma [4][5][6]. However, surgery is not always successful due to conjunctival scarring at the surgical site.…”