Does encouragement boost visual acuity testing results?
Smith, M.
Nursing Times 101(35): 38-41
2005
ISSN/ISBN: 0954-7762 PMID: 16161895 Document Number: 591103
To investigate the hypothesis: 'Patients who receive encouragement during visual acuity testing achieve better scores than patients who receive no encouragement'. Fifty patients were randomly selected from general eye clinics with five exclusions. A quasi-experimental, non-equivalent comparison before/after design was used to consider the way patients' vision is tested using the Snellen visual acuity chart in the eye department at Kettering General Hospital. The results were significant (t = 5.78 df=49 p < 0.001) and supported the initial hypothesis that 'patients who receive encouragement during visual acuity testing achieve better scores than patients who receive no encouragement'. The results of the study suggest that the subjects did get better visual acuity scores when encouragement was used and recommendations were made to change the clinic protocol.