| A cross-sectional study of Opticians and a Delphi Study with a panel of experts in eye care were conducted to determine the adequacy of Optician's education and licensure for expanding their scope of practice, particularly in the area of advanced technologies such as refraction and low vision eye care. Questionnaires were received from 200 randomly selected Opticians from the data base of the National Academy of Opticianry.; The relationship between licensure to higher education (years of college education) was found to be insignificant, chi2 (6, N = 200) = 2.770, p = .837, and chi2 (6, N = 200) = 3.628, p = .727, respectively. Education was generally not related to whether or not an Optician became licensed. Opticians practicing in states with a licensure requirement reported higher annual incomes (M = {dollar}39,594.02, SD = {dollar}8,641.30) than Opticians practicing in states without a licensure requirement (M = {dollar}36,900.00, SD = {dollar}10,099.51), t (140) = 1.906, p = .059. An analysis of variance showed that the effect of education on income for Opticians was insignificant, F (6, 191) = 1.288, p = .265. The study found no significant relationship between licensure and the use of new technologies of refraction, chi 2 (1, N = 139) = .192, p = .662, advanced contact lenses, chi 2 (1, N = 200) = .384, p = .535, and low vision care, chi 2 (1, N = 138) = .982, p = .322. The study found that on a national level almost anyone could practice Opticianry regardless of education and/or licensure.; Logistic regressions were used to determine which variables had a significant effect on the practice of refractions and the provisions of low vision care by Opticians. It found that licensure was a significant predictor for the provision of low vision care (OR = 2.095, 95% C.I. 1.112-3.947).; The Delphi panel concluded that for Opticians to further develop their scope of practice, especially into the areas of refraction, advanced contact lenses, and low vision there must be a concurrent increase in the education and training requirements. They also indicated that Opticians should be licensed in every state. |
