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Contact the study team using the details below to take part. If there are no contact details below please ask your doctor in the first instance.
Visual disturbances and blindness
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Background:
A study performed in Scotland reported that children affected by socioeconomic deprivation gain less from orthoptic therapy to treat weak vision, compared to children from homes requiring less input from support services. It has also been suggested that barriers to treatment exist for people affected by deprivation, including a reduced awareness of medical conditions and difficulty maintaining treatment or attending follow-up appointments.
Need for research:
The above evidence demonstrates a health inequality. A need for further research has been recognised by the British and Irish Orthoptic Society.
Aims:
1. Investigate whether the trend seen in Scotland is replicated in Greater Manchester and which social deprivation score can identify it best.
2. Gather parental opinion about barriers to treatment and how they can be reduced.
Method of investigation:
Phase 1 involves two Greater Manchester boroughs: the one with the highest deprivation score (measured by the Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2019) and the one with the lowest score. School screening referrals from 2017-2018 will be examined, with vision outcomes and attendance rates in the first year of treatment related to different individual social deprivation scores. The score that shows most relationship to vision outcome will be identified.
Phase 2 will concentrate on the five orthoptic clinics identified to have the worst deprivation scores. Parents of patients registered at the clinics will be invited to interviews to share their views on the barriers to amblyopia therapy. They will be shown a prototype educational video and asked whether treatment and appointment reminders would be helpful to improve concordance. The views shared will inform creation of a video and a reminder package, if this is deemed helpful.
Start dates may differ between countries and research sites. The research team are responsible for keeping the information up-to-date.
The recruitment start and end dates are as follows:
Observational type: Qualitative;
You can take part if:
You may not be able to take part if:
Phase 1: • Incomplete records for essential data collection; • Records not available (archived, for example); • Ocular pathology; • Transferred to other orthoptic services, or moved out of area, during the 1 year period; • 1 year period finishes after February 2020 (to avoid effects of the COVID-19 pandemic). Phase 2: • Unable to communicate in one of the following languages: English, Urdu, Arabic, Polish, Chinese or Panjabi; • Unable to contact after 3 attempts, on at least 2 separate days, at any one point during data collection.
Below are the locations for where you can take part in the trial. Please note that not all sites may be open.
The study is sponsored by MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY NHS FOUNDATION TRUST and funded by BRITISH EYE RESEARCH FOUNDATION .
Your feedback is important to us. It will help us improve the quality of the study information on this site. Please answer both questions.
Read full details
for Trial ID: CPMS 53985
You can print or share the study information with your GP/healthcare provider or contact the research team directly.
