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Study: Personality characteristics associated with patient satisfaction
Patients who received a multifocal intraocular lens implant were more likely to express postoperative satisfaction depending on their personality characteristics, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Refractive Surgery.
Mester and colleagues conducted a prospective multicenter study that evaluated 183 patients to determine influences on patient satisfaction.
All patients underwent bilateral implantation of different multifocal intraocular lenses (MIOLs).
Researchers measured both uncorrected and corrected distance visual acuity for distance and near before the operation as well as 3 and 6 months afterward. Participants completed a questionnaire based on the NEO Personality Inventory Test and the Compulsiveness Inventory Test to evaluate personality characteristics. Additionally, participants completed a different questionnaire at 3 and 6 months after implantation, which assessed the need for spectacles at different distances, visual function at different distances and lighting conditions, ease of performing daily activities, photic phenomena and overall satisfaction.
Results showed that low astigmatism, low spectacle dependence, less glare or halos, and good visual function were correlated with overall satisfaction. They also demonstrated that subjective disturbance by halos and glare was significantly correlated with the specific personality characteristics of dutifulness, orderliness, competence and compulsive checking.
"To our knowledge, the current study is the first to show a correlation of psychometric factors with postoperative satisfaction in patients with multifocal IOLs," the authors stated. "Multifocal IOLs offer high spectacle independence, but halos, glare, and blurred vision can be side effects the patient may have to deal with. It cannot be concluded that patients with particular psychometric characteristics must not receive the implants, but the current study showed that careful patient selection should not only focus on biometry, ophthalmologic findings and preoperative astigmatism, but also on personality characteristics. Of course, in case of patient dissatisfaction, the main causes (e.g., posterior capsule opacification, dry eye syndrome and ametropia) should be treated before blaming patients’ personality characteristics. Interestingly, Woods et al. found that college students who had a great tolerance of blur were aware of it. It is not clear whether the patients in the current study were aware of their intolerance of halos and glare or their psychometric characteristics.
"A special questionnaire might help the surgeon to detect patients who might be unsatisfied even when all clinical findings are satisfactory," they suggested. "Detailed discussion with these patients before surgery about their possible intolerance of halos and glare might help them decide whether they will accept side effects, and it might help the surgeon to avoid potentially unsatisfied patients."
Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.