VERBAL AND VISUAL INTERPRETATION OF PICTURES EMBEDDED WITH RELEVANT SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF EYE PROBLEMS

Abstract

There is a recognised need for a questionnaire playing a crucial role in eye care. Substantial research has been undertaken on the role of a questionnaire assessing the vision-related quality of life. However, the need for pictures to be embedded as a part of the questionnaires has not been recognised. This study investigated the verbal and visual interpretation of pictures about signs and symptoms of eye problems. 60 subjects aged 18 to 40 years old were recruited using convenient sampling in this cross-sectional study. Sixteen pictures representing three domains (physical signs, behavioural signs and visual- related activity) were included. The verbal interpretation was recorded for each picture. The visual interpretation was recorded as fixation count and duration using a heat map for three pictures representing each domain. All pictures (100%) under the physical signs category provided a high percentage (more than 80%) of correct verbal responses. A significant difference in the verbal responses was found between gender and two different levels of education for behavioural signs and visual-related activity pictures (p<0.05). Significantly longer fixation duration was found among respondents who provided incorrect verbal responses compared to correct verbal responses (p<0.05). A simple picture with direct information like ocular misalignment was more interpretable than a picture with abstract information like ‘glare’ and ‘writing up and downhill’. Both verbal and visual interpretations of the picture are closely correlated. Therefore, selecting pictures of eye care questionnaires for the general population should consider a minimum cognitive load to improve interpretability.