Differences in Practitioner Experience, Practice Type, and Profession in Attitudes Toward Growing Contact Lens Practice

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate eye care practitioners' attitudes and perceptions toward potential interventions that can enhance contact lens (CL) practice across the world, and how this is influenced by their practice setting. METHODS: A self-administered, anonymized survey was constructed in English and then forward and backward translated into six more languages. The survey was distributed online via social media platforms and mailing lists involving reputed international professional bodies. RESULTS: In total, 2,222 responses from 27 countries with sufficient responses were analyzed (53% females, median age- 37 years). Most of the respondents were optometrists (81.9%) and 47.6% were from stand-alone/independent practices. Median working experience in CL prescribing was 11.0 years (IQR: 18.0, 4-22 years). Over two-third of them declared themselves to be very hopeful (22.9%) or hopeful (45.1%) about the future of their CL practice. Among the potential interventions proposed, continuous update of knowledge and skills and competently managing CL-related complications were rated the most important (median score: 9/10 for each). Practitioners working in national/regional retail chains expressed higher proactivity in recommending CLs (9/10) than those in local chains, hospitals, and universities (for all 8/10, P <0.05). National differences were also identified in eye care practitioner attitudes and perceptions ( P <0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The study provided important information to delineate a variety of elements characterizing CL practice across the world. These insights can serve as a basis to design strategies at national and international levels.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/ICL.0000000000000920
Divisions: College of Health & Life Sciences > School of Optometry > Optometry
College of Health & Life Sciences > School of Optometry > Optometry & Vision Science Research Group (OVSRG)
College of Health & Life Sciences > School of Optometry > Vision, Hearing and Language
College of Health & Life Sciences
Aston University (General)
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 Written work prepared by employees of the Federal Government as part of their official duties is, under the U.S. Copyright Act, a “work of the United States Government” for which copyright protection under Title 17 of the United States Code is not available. As such, copyright does not extend to the contributions of employees of the Federal Government.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Contact Lenses,Humans,Surveys and Questionnaires,Universities,Male,Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice,Female
Publication ISSN: 1542-233X
Last Modified: 06 Dec 2024 08:28
Date Deposited: 15 Jan 2024 14:36
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2022-09-01
Accepted Date: 2022-05-12
Authors: Thite, Nilesh
Desiato, Alfredo
Shinde, Lakshmi
Wolffsohm, James S
Naroo, Shehzad A (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-6373-7187)
Santodomingo Rubido, Jacinto
Cho, Pauline
Jones, Debbie
Villa-Collar, Cesar
Carrillo, Guillermo
Chan, Osbert
Wang, Haiying
Iomdina, Elena
Tarutta, Elena
Proskurina, Olga
Fan, Chi Shing
Zeri, Fabrizio (ORCID Profile 0000-0003-0529-555X)
Bakkar, May M
Barodawala, Fakhruddin
Dabral, Neeraj
Lafosse, Edouard
Lee, Cheni
Nichols, Jason
Chan, Jack
Park, Kyounghee
Nair, Vishakh
van der Worp, Eef
Vankudre, Gopi
Maseedupally, Vinod
Bhattarai, Yashaswee
Nagzarkar, Dimple
Brauer, Peter
Gil-Cazorla, Raquel (ORCID Profile 0000-0003-0855-8554)

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