The Feasibility of an Educational Cartoon Video for Improving Adherence with Amblyopia Treatment in Children

Abstract

Background

Previous studies have shown that it is necessary to evaluate adherence during the treatment process, using educational intervention methods which have been shown to improve adherence with patching treatment. A previous study reported that an educational cartoon had significantly improved adherence with patching. However, this black-white cartoon is not commercially available.

Objective

This study investigates the feasibility of a 4-minute educational cartoon video in improving adherence with patching therapy for amblyopic children.

Methods

Children (3 to 10 years old) with unilateral amblyopia who were prescribed 2 hours or 6 hours of patching per day were enrolled. Objective adherence to the treatment was tracked using a microsensor. Children returned after 4 weeks ± 2 days to measure adherence. Participants with adherence ≤50% were eligible to watch the educational cartoon video. They continued with the previously prescribed treatment (2 hours or 6 hours patching) for an additional week to evaluate the follow-up adherence.

Results

A total of 27 participants were enrolled. The mean age (SD) was 6.6 (1.5) years. Twenty-two participants (12 in the 2 hours patching group and 10 in the 6 hours patching group) had adherence ≤50% and watched our cartoon video. The cartoon video improved mean adherence (SD) from 29.6% (11.9%) to 56.8% (12.1%) in all 22 participants from both regimens (paired 2-tailed t-test, t= −11, P < 0.000).

Conclusion

The Educational cartoon video is feasible for use in a clinical setting. These data showed a trend of improvement in adherence with both patching regimens in children after watching the educational cartoon video.

Keywords:

• educational cartoon
• amblyopia
• adherence
• patching

Abbreviation

EPA, Eye Patch Assistant.

Data Sharing Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, (SA), upon reasonable request.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Deanship of Scientific Research, Qassim University for funding publication of this project. The authors would also like to thank all children and their parents for the participation in this study. The abstract of this paper was presented at ARVO 2020 conference as a poster with interim findings. The poster’s abstract was published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, June 2020, Vol. 61, 506.

Disclosure

Dr Jingyun Wang reports grants from National Eye Institute, during the conduct of the study; non-remunerative Advisory Board member for Percept Corporation, outside the submitted work. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work and declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.