Glaucoma Wise – Shared Wisdom Empowering Lives

Glaucoma Wise is a free, expert-guided support hub for people diagnosed with glaucoma. The website has been created by medical specialists and expert patients, to help patients feel back in control and create habits to protect vision and live well with glaucoma long term.

Why was www.glaucomawise.com set up?

Diagnosis can be a frightening time, leaving many people feeling overwhelmed and worried about the impact that glaucoma could have on their lives.

Specialist support based on proven science is critical at this time to help people feel less anxious and set up the right habits to help protect their vision and quality of life going forward .. however time pressure means that clinicians have limited time to provide this specialist emotional and practical support – making trustworthy online support that people can access at home, immediately after diagnosis, imperative.

What www.glaucomawise.com has to help

Section 1: A Specialist 6-Part Guide, to take people from anxiety to action

• Part 1: The facts about a future with Glaucoma: featuring 1) Expert videos from glaucoma medical specialists about what you need to know after diagnosis, and 2) The experience of the expert patient panel and what they wished they had known at diagnosis
• Part 2: The Habits That Help Protect Vision: featuring Videos from experts and expert patient advice on the important protective habits to focus on, plus risky habits to avoid.
• Part 3: The Secret to Successfully Living with Glaucoma: featuring the experience of the expert patient panel and specialists on how to successfully navigate the challenges of living well with glaucoma
• Part 4: Creating Your Own ‘Glaucoma Wise’ Habits: featuring expert guidance on how to practically create your own set of habits with the power to protect vision and live well with glaucoma.
• Part 5: Making Treatment Decisions with your Medical Team: featuring information on the different kinds of treatments for glaucoma and experiences of the expert patient panel on what treatments they had and why.
• Part 6: Protecting your Loved Ones and Helping Others with Glaucoma – Quick guide on 3 simple things people can do to protect their loved ones and help others with glaucoma.

Section 2: Expert Patient Wisdom

• This section features stories & advice from Glaucoma Wise’s panel of expert patients who know what it takes to successfully live well with glaucoma. There is also an expert patient stories library and a quick search expert patient advice area.

Section 3: Glaucoma Medical Wisdom

• In this final section, people can watch a video from glaucoma expert and ophthalmic surgeon Professor Paul Foster, to hear his experience and advice for patients recently diagnosed with glaucoma.

The team behind www.glaucomawise.com

Glaucoma Wise has been built by a multi-disciplinary team of ophthalmic surgeons, psychologists, behavioural scientists and expert patients who all understand that the best way to help people successfully live with chronic conditions like glaucoma is not just telling them to “adhere to their treatment plan”; but instead helping them to understand how their daily habits are critical for protecting their vision and ensuring they can continue to ‘live well’ with the condition – and how these two things are intimately connected.

The science behind www.glaucomawise.com

A large body of research shows that people with glaucoma who regularly take their eye drop medication can maintain their sight and are substantially less likely to go blind when followed for decades. The problem is that the mental health burden of being diagnosed with glaucoma, driven partly by fear of blindness can cause such distress that it leads to lower adherence to good eye care regimes, including eye drop medication. This is a vicious cycle that can lead to depression, lower quality of life and poor eye health. That’s why recent reviews of glaucoma educational programmes concluded that motivation was a major determinant of eye care (Quaranta et al., 2023).

There is also a long history of scientific research into quality of life and what we do to live well, stretching back to antiquity. One of the things we know to be most powerful in managing our health is ‘intrinsic motivation’. As opposed to extrinsic forms of motivation, such as being told to do something by our doctor, ‘intrinsic’ forms of motivation are related to the core emotional drivers of our behaviour. These might include doing things that we enjoy, that give us meaning or are a part of an important role in society. They are inherently joyful or meaningful. Emerging research (Tong et al., 2021) shows that people with glaucoma who engage in programmes with broader goals that include healthier lifestyles and social activities are more likely to maintain motivation to take their medication. This suggests that to maintain our vision and a good quality of life we need to live well in a way that is meaningful and motivating to us.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Glaucoma Wise
Website for you and your patients: www.glaucomawise.com
Info & free contact cards to give out at your clinic:
E: team@habitpartners.com
T: 020 3051 6278