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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Journal of Academic Ophthalmology 2023; 15(02): e223-e231
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1771354
Research Article

Follow-Up Adherence After Community Health Vision Screening Programs: A Review of the Literature

Rebecca Zeng 
1   Department of Ophthalmology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts
,
Kara C. LaMattina
1   Department of Ophthalmology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts
2   Department of Ophthalmology, Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts
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Abstract

Objective Although the purpose of community eye screening programs is to reduce health care disparities, the effectiveness of these programs is limited by the follow-up adherence of their participants. The aim of this review is to investigate factors that may promote or hinder participants from attending follow-up ophthalmological exams after community eye screenings and identify interventions to increase follow-up rates.

Methods For literature review, PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Proquest/Global Health Library, and Google Scholar databases were searched to identify studies of community eye screenings published between January 2000 and May 2023. Data from these articles were analyzed to identify barriers and facilitators of follow-up adherence after community eye screenings in the United States and to examine strategies used to increase follow-up rates. Only published manuscripts were included. We excluded studies of school screenings and clinic-based screenings.

Results A total of 28 articles were included. Follow-up rates ranged from 12.5 to 89%. Nineteen articles reviewed facilitators and barriers to follow-up. Eighteen articles were non interventional and seven (see [Table 1] and [2], respectively) articles described interventions that were tested to improve follow-up rates after screening. Interventions included prescheduled appointments, transportation assistance, patient education, and patient navigators.

Conclusion Several interventions are promising to increase follow-up adherence in community eye screenings, but more evidence is needed. Future research should focus on randomized trials of isolated interventions to improve follow-up adherence of disadvantaged populations, although this may be limited given ethical considerations and documented lack of follow-up after screening.

Keywords

Health care disparities - ophthalmology - community health - screenings - follow-up adherence


Publication History

Received: 01 June 2022

Accepted: 28 June 2023

Article published online:
03 October 2023

© 2023. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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