The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) has received a $1.6 million grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to help reduce vision problems in African-Americans caused by glaucoma.
The grant will reportedly be used to fund a study aimed at empowering glaucoma patients to be more actively involved during their doctor visits by asking more questions about the condition and its treatment, which would in turn lead to doctors educating patients more, resulting in improved outcomes.
UNC researchers reportedly plan to enroll 380 glaucoma patients from three ophthalmology clinics, who will be randomly assigned to an intervention group — which is being developed with input from African-American patients with glaucoma — and a control group. Patients will reportedly be audio-recorded during their doctor visits and will use a medication monitoring system to measure their medication adherence, and will be followed for one year.
Researchers reportedly believe African-American patients with glaucoma in the intervention group will have significantly improved communication with their ophthalmologists, leading to improved glaucoma medication self-efficacy, adherence and intraocular pressure.
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Source: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC)