How Do Pediatric Occupational Therapists Describe Their Process of Conducting Vision Evaluations?

Objective(s): The purpose of the study is to describe the process of vision evaluations completed by pediatric occupational therapists, including those who work in schools and early intervention.

Data Sources: This descriptive qualitative research study utilized a series of 13 structured, open-ended interview questions via Zoom with eligible occupational therapist participants. Interviews conducted by investigators were recorded and transcribed. Participants checked transcriptions after interview completion, and investigators then coded the transcribed data manually using Excel.

Study Selection: Participants were included in this study if they met the following criteria: (1) occupational therapists currently practicing with the pediatric population; (2) at least one year of experience working in a pediatric setting; (3) at least one year of experience conducting vision evaluations; and (4) residents of the United States. Purposeful sampling was utilized to recruit participants along with snowball sampling by having participants provide investigators with potential participants' contact information.

Data Extraction: The qualitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, allowing investigators to summarize and describe open-ended interview responses. Investigators completed manual coding by highlighting interview transcriptions and then tallying the common responses to identify emerging themes. Inductive coding was utilized. Reflexive and coding reliability thematic analysis were used as the codes and themes emerged from data collection and for intercoder reliability.

Data Synthesis: Descriptive statistics were used to outline the participants' demographic information. After analyzing the data, two broad overarching themes emerged from the in-depth structured interviews completed by the investigators. Once examining and analyzing the pediatric occupational therapists' experiences completing vision evaluations, the themes identified are (1) the working relationship with optometry and occupational therapy and (2) the significance of vision in relation to function.

Conclusions: This study identified positive outcomes of vision rehabilitation, which were reported to benefit patients who experience visual deficits, especially in schools and early intervention. The findings of this study gathered that following professional development courses and ongoing collaboration with optometrists, occupational therapists could complete vision evaluations that assisted them in developing functional treatments and interventions with children. Developing a standardized vision-based screening or evaluation tool that is quick to administer and looks at visual integration skills, visual perception, visual motor, binocular vision, and ocular motor skills to enhance efficiency and ensure quality patient care would be beneficial and assist therapists as well as teachers learn how to identify signs and symptoms.

Author(s) Disclosures: The author(s) reported no declarations of interest.