Department of Public Health and Health Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of Michigan-Flint, Michigan.
Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Health Professions, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York.
Optom Vis Sci. 2020 Aug;97(8):598-605. doi: 10.1097/OPX.0000000000001555.
Lifestyle influences eye health and other chronic diseases. All health care providers, not just primary care physicians, should have the necessary information and training to advise and refer patients on lifestyle to take advantage of opportunities to provide such advice.
The extent to which optometrists offer lifestyle advice to their patients is largely unknown. The Optometrists' Practices in Advising about Lifestyle (OPAL) study aimed to examine lifestyle advice that optometrists offer, to whom such advice is offered, and reasons for not offering this advice.
We developed and administered a mail-in survey to 140 optometrists in Western New York.
Five surveys were returned because of death, retirement, and relocation. Of the 135 remaining eligible participants, 46 of the optometrists contacted responded to our survey; however, only 42 (31%) provided signed consent forms. Of these, more than 93% report offering advice on smoking, dietary supplements, and diet, and >59% reported offering on physical activity and alcohol use. Eighty-three percent offer advice to only those with unhealthy behaviors or certain conditions. Most advice consisted of mentioning the lifestyle factor's influence on eye or overall health. Reasons for not offering advice included lack of knowledge or training or the belief that advice would not change behaviors.
Optometrists reported offering advice primarily to those with unhealthy lifestyle behaviors or pre-existing health conditions. Future studies should address low response rates, include nonphysician health care providers in addition to optometrists, and also examine patients' perceptions and understanding of the advice offered to better understand whether this advice is received as the provider envisioned.
生活方式会影响眼睛健康和其他慢性疾病。所有医疗保健提供者，而不仅仅是初级保健医生，都应该具备必要的信息和培训，以便为患者提供生活方式方面的建议并进行转介，从而有机会提供此类建议。
很大程度上，我们并不了解验光师为患者提供生活方式建议的情况。“验光师提供生活方式建议的实践（OPAL）”研究旨在检查验光师提供的生活方式建议、向谁提供此类建议以及不提供此类建议的原因。
我们针对西纽约的 140 名验光师开发并邮寄了一份调查问卷。
由于死亡、退休和搬迁，有 5 份问卷被退回。在其余 135 名符合条件的参与者中，有 46 名验光师联系了我们的调查，但只有 42 名（31%）提供了签名的同意书。在这些参与者中，超过 93%的人报告提供了关于吸烟、膳食补充剂和饮食的建议，超过 59%的人报告提供了关于体育活动和饮酒的建议。83%的人仅向有不健康行为或特定疾病的人提供建议。大多数建议包括提到生活方式因素对眼睛或整体健康的影响。不提供建议的原因包括缺乏知识或培训，或者认为建议不会改变行为。
验光师主要向有不健康生活方式行为或现有健康状况的人提供建议。未来的研究应该解决低回应率的问题，除了验光师之外，还应该包括非医师医疗保健提供者，并研究患者对所提供建议的看法和理解，以更好地了解患者是否像提供者预期的那样接受了这些建议。
