A Visual Approach to Reducing Anxiety and Improving Knowledge Transfer for Patients Receiving Intravitreal Injections

The use of intravitreal injections of Ranibizumab (Lucentis, Genentech) is becoming increasing common for the management of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). It is therefore important to acknowledge and address patients' anxiety due to anticipated discomfort from the idea of "getting a needle in the eye". In addition, visual provision of information at diagnosis concerning long-term treatment expectation may enhance the informed consent process. The use of visual aids may also accommodate patients of different educational background when presented with new and complex treatment information. The purpose of our study is to determine whether visual education on AMD and intravitreal injection can reduce patients' anxiety prior to the treatment, and lessen the impact of socioeconomical status on their understanding of the treatment and prognosis. Although this tool will be developed in the context of injection-requiring retinal diseases, it has applications in the care of disease requiring long-term treatments.