Increasing Vision Center Service Utilization

NCT04800718 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: SCEH/IRB/2020/APR/54
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 1,500
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Background: Vision Centre (primary eyecare facility): a major eye care service model catering to underserved rural areas. The sustainability of rural Vision Centres (VC) in north India is a major challenge due to the under-utilization of services by the local community and stakeholders. This affects self-sustainability and limits the expansion of services in rural areas. Dr. Shroff's Charity Eye Hospital is planning an intervention: door-to-door screening in VC's vicinity areas, to connect with the community. In this operational research, the investigators plan to study if this intervention package, consisting of door-to-door screening and awareness generation in the service area can increase the utilization of VC services to a minimum of 14 out-patient cases per day within the study period and also analyze its cost-effectiveness for scalability. Methodology: The study is a randomized experimental intervention, consisting of 2 VCs (intervention arm and control arm) selected from poor low-performing VCs i.e. walk-in out-patient cases≤ 10 per day, in two operational regions (Vrindavan, Mathura District, and Mohammadi, Kheri District) of Uttar Pradesh. Intervention includes door-to-door screening and awareness generation in 8-12 villages surrounding the VC. The control VC will follow existing practices of awareness generation through community activities and health talks. Data collected from each VC for the 4 months of intervention will include, a number of walk-in patients, spectacles advised, and their uptake, referral, and uptake for cataract and specialty surgery as well as operational expenses. Differences across arms in terms of the number of walk-in patients, referrals, uptake of services, and costs involved would be analyzed. Conclusion: Through this study, the investigators would analyze if our intervention package is effective in increasing the VC service utilization and thus, overall sustainability. The investigators would also study the cost-effectiveness of this intervention, to assess its scalability.

Conditions

Eye Diseases

Keywords

Vision Centres; Eye care Awareness; Door-to-Door screening; Visual Acuity

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Increase in numbers of walk in patients at VC from baseline

  Increase in numbers of walk in patients at VC from baseline 7-8 walk in patients to 14 per day after the intervention period of four months

  4 months

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Uptake of services

  3 months

• Cost-effectiveness

  3 months

Study Arms (2)

Door-to-door screening

EXPERIMENTAL

Intervention includes door-to-door screening and awareness generation in 8-12 villages surrounding the Vision Centres

Other: Intervention Arm

Routine awareness activities,Control Arm

NO INTERVENTION

The control arm VC will continue its routine awareness activities \& health talk sessions in the community.

Interventions

Intervention Arm OTHER

Intervention includes door-to-door screening and awareness generation in 8-12 villages surrounding the Vision Centres

Also known as: door-to-door screening and awareness generation

Door-to-door screening

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• VCs were included based on the following criteria:
• Low performance (walk-in OPD ≤ 10/day)
• Duration of operation \>1 year
• Presence of 1 VC in each arm from selected VCs

You may not qualify if:

• VCs with a walk-in OPD greater than 10 per day \& those in operation for less than one year were excluded.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Seva Foundation: lead
• Dr Shroff's Charity Eye Hospital: collaborator
• Indian Institute of Public Health, India: collaborator
• Seva Canada Society: collaborator
• Queen's University, Belfast: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

SCEH

New Delhi, India

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Sabherwal S, Chinnakaran A, Sood I, Garg GK, Singh BP, Shukla R, Reddy PA, Gilbert S, Bassett K, Murthy GVS; Operational Research Capacity Building Study Group. Effect of Door-to-Door Screening and Awareness Generation Activities in the Catchment Areas of Vision Centers on Service Use: Protocol for a Randomized Experimental Study. JMIR Res Protoc. 2021 Nov 4;10(11):e31951. doi: 10.2196/31951.

  PMID: 34734839 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Eye Diseases

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: The intervention will include door-to-door screening and awareness generation in 8-12 villages surrounding VC and control VC will follow existing practices of awareness generation through community activities and health talks.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 10, 2021
• First Posted: March 16, 2021
• Study Start: February 22, 2021
• Primary Completion: November 30, 2021
• Study Completion: December 30, 2021
• Last Updated: March 10, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-03

Locations

IN (1)