PSYCHOSOCIAL-ASPECTS OF STRABISMUS STUDY

Objective: To assess the psychosocial implications of growing up with and living with socially noticeable strabismus. Design: Self-report ma iled questionnaire and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist. Setting: Patient s with strabismus who were seen at the University of California, Davis , Medical Center, Department of Ophthalmology, from 1976 to 1989. Part icipants: Forty-three female and male subjects aged 15 years or older who had a history of childhood strabismus that was uncorrected or inco mpletely corrected past the age of 13 years. Intervention: None. Main Outcome Measures: Participants' responses to our survey and to the Hop kins Symptom Checklist. Results: Strabismus had a negative impact on m any aspects of our subjects' lives. They report difficulty with self-i mage, securing employment, interpersonal relationships, school, work, and sports. Furthermore, difficulties encountered did not go away afte r childhood, rather, the problems encountered by our subjects intensif ied in the teenage and adult years. Subjects demonstrated generalized higher levels of distress on the Hopkins Symptom Checklist than age- a nd sex-matched controls (P<.01). Conclusions: Psychosocial difficultie s relating to socially noticeable strabismus are not just a problem fo r school-children but also for teenagers and adults. Correction of str abismus in the older teenager or adult may offer them improvement in p sychosocial functioning, a benefit not previously reported in the lite rature.