Patients' Views of Visual Field Testing and Priorities for Research Development and Translation into Practice

PURPOSE: Information regarding the views of patients, on visual field testing is limited, and no information exists regarding their preferences for test developments. This study aimed to increase knowledge of patients' experiences of visual field assessment and to explore their opinions and priorities regarding current areas of research and development.

DESIGN: Online questionnaire with purposive sampling design.

PARTICIPANTS: Adults who regularly undergo visual field tests in Australia who report having glaucoma or being at glaucomatous risk.

METHODS: An anonymous survey, implemented using the Qualtrics webtool, with both closed- and-open ended questions designed to explore opinions regarding visual field testing, visit attendance for perimetry, as well as priorities for developments.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The survey assessed 3 domains: (1) opinions regarding test duration and visit frequency, (2) subjective experience, and (3) perspectives on future developments.

RESULTS: One hundred fifty-two complete survey responses were obtained. The median age of participants was 66 years (interquartile range [IQR], 60-72 years). Most participants (70%) had experience of undergoing more than 11 visual field tests. Participants recalled that they completed visual field tests in median of 6 minutes (IQR, 5-8 minutes) and were willing to accept additional time (median, 5 minutes; IQR, 3-6 minutes) to obtain more information. Participants were prepared to increase both the number of visual field tests per eye and the frequency of visual field tests (median, 3 visits per year; IQR, 2-4 visits per year) to gain more information about their visual status. Regarding future developments, the most preferred option was "similar test times but an increase in the level of information about my visual field," which ranked significantly higher than all other options, including "shorter test times that maintain the currently available level of information about my visual field."

CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms, in a different population and health care system, previous research reporting patient perspectives on visual field assessment. We further revealed that health care consumers show a strong preference for accurate information about their vision and report being prepared to undergo longer visual field tests or more visual field tests to achieve that outcome.