Paediatric Eye and Vision Research Participation Experiences: A Systematic Review

Background:For children and young people with eye and vision conditions, research is essential to advancing evidence-based recommendations in diagnosis, prevention, treatments and cures. Patient ‘experience’ reflects a key measure of quality in health care (1); research participant ‘experiences’ are equally important. Therefore, in order to achieve child-centred, high quality paediatric ophthalmic research, we need to understand participation experiences. We conducted a systematic review of existing literature; our primary outcome was to understand what supports or hinders positive eye and vision research experiences for children and young people. Our secondary outcomes explored whether participation experiences were perceived to have any positive or adverse effects, and if any interventions to improve paediatric ophthalmic research experiences had previously been developed or used. Methods:We searched (from inception to Nov 2018, updated July 2020) in MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, NICE evidence and The Cochrane Library (CDSR and CENTRAL), key journals (by hand), grey literature databases and Google Scholar; looking for evidence from the perspectives of children, young people, parents and staff with experience of paediatric ophthalmic research. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Participant in Research Experience Survey (PRES) (2, 3) identified ‘five domains’ pivotal to shaping positive research experiences; we used these domains as an ‘a priori’ framework to conduct a ‘best fit’ synthesis (4, 5).Results:Our search yielded 13,020 papers; two studies were eligible. These evaluated research experiences from the perspectives of parents and staff; the perspectives of children and young people themselves were not collected. No studies were identified addressing our secondary objectives. Synthesis confirmed the experiences of parents were shaped by staff characteristics, information provision, trial organisation and personal motivations; concurring with the ‘PRES domains’(3), and generating additional dimensions to participation motivations and the physical and emotional costs of study organisation.Conclusions:The evidence base is limited and importantly omits the voices of children and young people. Further research, involving children and young people, is necessary to better understand the research experiences of this population, and so inform quality improvements for paediatric ophthalmic research care and outcomes.Registration: Review registered with PROSPERO, International prospective register of systematic reviews: CRD42018117984