Paradoxes in Eye Health Care in Low-Income Countries and Design Strategies for Mobile Health Technology to Overcome them

Nida, Esmael Kedir; Geurts, Luc; Abeele, Vero Vanden

doi:10.4108/eai.30-10-2018.161366

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Moreover, ophthalmic nurses, optometrists, and IECW nurses at the primary hospitals saw an additional advantage in using GES, compared with the OPs at Jimma University Medical Center tertiary hospital. With almost no attention given to eye care at the primary level in the Ethiopian health system [ 36 ], they usually suffer from a lack of resources, including testing equipment. They usually rely on simple and basic tests with torch lights and simple magnifying lenses.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Perceived ease of use (EE) has been identified as one of the major factors influencing mHealth adoption by health professionals [ 19 , 20 , 36 ]. One of the major challenges Ethiopian OPs face while administering VFT is the extra effort required to explain the test procedure to patients from rural areas with little familiarity with technology, to the extent of not even having experience in using a TV remote control [ 36 ]. Both quantitative and qualitative results indicate that GES is easy to use, even for patients from rural areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The GES combines a smartphone app that runs on the Android platform, an ordinary gaming joystick, and a VR headset to perform quick visual field screening tests ( Figure 1 ). The app was designed on the basis of user and task analysis of eye care in Southwest Ethiopia [ 36 ], to be used as a first-hand screening tool for diseases such as glaucoma. Given the limited access to primary eye care in these areas because of a shortage of both OPs and diagnostic equipment [ 36 ], GES enables local health centers to screen for potential cases and make more informed referral decisions.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Acceptance of a Smartphone-Based Visual Field Screening Platform for Glaucoma: Pre-Post Study

Nida¹,

Bekele²,

Geurts³

et al. 2021

JMIR Form Res

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Background Glaucoma, the silent thief of sight, is a major cause of blindness worldwide. It is a burden for people in low-income countries, specifically countries where glaucoma-induced blindness accounts for 15% of the total incidence of blindness. More than half the people living with glaucoma in low-income countries are unaware of the disease until it progresses to an advanced stage, resulting in permanent visual impairment. Objective This study aims to evaluate the acceptability of the Glaucoma Easy Screener (GES), a low-cost and portable visual field screening platform comprising a smartphone, a stereoscopic virtual reality headset, and a gaming joystick. Methods A mixed methods study that included 24 eye care professionals from 4 hospitals in Southwest Ethiopia was conducted to evaluate the acceptability of GES. A pre-post design was used to collect perspectives before and after using the GES by using questionnaires and semistructured interviews. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to determine the significance of any change in the scores of the questionnaire items (two-tailed, 95% CI; α=.05). The questionnaire and interview questions were guided by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. Results Positive results were obtained both before and after use, suggesting the acceptance of mobile health solutions for conducting glaucoma screening by using a low-cost headset with a smartphone and a game controller. There was a significant increase (two-tailed, 95% CI; α=.05) in the average scores of 86% (19/22) of postuse questionnaire items compared with those of preuse questionnaire items. Ophthalmic professionals perceived GES as easy to use and as a tool that enabled the conduct of glaucoma screening tests, especially during outreach to rural areas. However, positive evaluations are contingent on the accuracy of the tool. Moreover, ophthalmologists voiced the need to limit the tool to screening only (ie, not for making diagnoses). Conclusions This study supports the feasibility of using a mobile device in combination with a low-cost virtual reality headset and classic controller for glaucoma screening in rural areas. GES has the potential to reduce the burden of irreversible blindness caused by glaucoma. However, further assessment of its sensitivity and specificity is required.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Acceptance of a Smartphone-Based Visual Field Screening Platform for Glaucoma: Pre-Post Study

Nida¹,

Bekele²,

Geurts³

et al. 2021

JMIR Form Res

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show abstract

“…Thus, early diagnosis is essential to prevent diseases from irreversibly affecting the visual sense [7]. For this reason, ophthalmology specialists recommend annual eye evaluations, maintaining a healthy diet, taking care of eye hygiene, and protecting the visual organ from ultraviolet (UV) rays with special lenses that help prevent diseases that gradually deteriorate vision; since the damage produced generates a negative impact on the person, damaging the lifestyle they lead.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expert Web System: Diagnosis of Visual Diseases

Gabriel-Gonzales

Andrade–Arenas

2022

Int. J. Onl. Eng.

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Sight is one of the senses with the greatest sup- port for our daily life because the brain receives 80% of the information visually. However, it is one of the most neglected senses in Latin America, mainly in Peru. This is because since that in this country the sense of sight is related to the second disability with the highest percentage. Thus, 76% of the visually impaired population lost their sight due to lack of treatment or lack of early detection of any visual disease. For this reason, the present research work originated, which has the purpose of designing and implementing an expert web system oriented to the welfare of the vulnerable population regarding visual diseases and the care of the sense of sight. Therefore, the Buchanan methodology was used for the development of this project, which contains 5 phases of development and planning. This methodology allowed the identification of viable requirements for the expert web system, as well as the study of detailed solutions and design. Thus, it allowed the development of an expert web system that complies with the eye care, through early diagnosis. Finally, as a result of the present research work, it was obtained that the expert web system meets 88% of satisfaction, the value obtained through a questionnaire to a sample of 60 people, including patients and specialists of the company called MK Optical Center.

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Acceptance of a Smartphone-Based Visual Field Screening Platform for Glaucoma: Pre-Post Study (Preprint)

Nida¹,

Bekele²,

Geurts³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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BACKGROUND Glaucoma, the “silent thief of sight”, is a major cause of blindness worldwide. It is a burden for people in low-income countries specifically, where it accounts for 15% of the total blindness. More than half of the people living with glaucoma in low-income countries, are unaware of their disease until it progresses to an advanced stage, resulting in permanent visual impairment. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the acceptability of the Glaucoma Easy Screener (GES), a low-cost and portable visual field screening platform comprising of a smartphone, a stereoscopic VR headset and a gaming joystick. METHODS A mixed-method study was conducted to evaluate the acceptability of GES, including 24 eye care professionals from four hospitals in Southwest Ethiopia. A pre-post design was employed to collect perspectives before and after using GES, using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The questionnaire and interview questions were guided by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). RESULTS Positive results were obtained both pre-use and post-use, suggesting acceptance of mHealth solutions for glaucoma screening, using a low-cost headset through a smartphone and a game controller. Ophthalmic professionals perceived GES as easy-to-use, enabling the screening of glaucoma screening tests, especially during outreach to rural areas. However, positive evaluations are contingent on adequate accuracy of the tool. Moroever, ophtalmic professionals voiced the need to limit the tool to screening only, and not for diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS The study supports the feasibility of using a mobile device in combination with a low-cost VR headset and classic controller for glaucoma screening in rural areas. GES has the potential to reduce the burden of irreversible blindness due to glaucoma. Yet, a further assessment of its sensitivity and specificity is needed.

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Paradoxes in Eye Health Care in Low-Income Countries and Design Strategies for Mobile Health Technology to Overcome them

Cited by 3 publications

References 28 publications

Acceptance of a Smartphone-Based Visual Field Screening Platform for Glaucoma: Pre-Post Study

Acceptance of a Smartphone-Based Visual Field Screening Platform for Glaucoma: Pre-Post Study

Expert Web System: Diagnosis of Visual Diseases

Acceptance of a Smartphone-Based Visual Field Screening Platform for Glaucoma: Pre-Post Study (Preprint)

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