The BALANCE Study

‘Lazy eye’ (amblyopia) is the commonest sight problem in children, affecting about one in 30 children. It is caused by a difference in spectacle prescription between the eyes and/or a squint (eye misalignment), with the brain ignoring one eye.

Amblyopia is treated by glasses and patches or blurring eyedrops to the good eye. This works in about 70% of children, but parents and children strongly dislike these treatments which may carry on for years and involve frequent clinic visits.

In this pilot trial, 66 children received, at random, either a Nintendo 3DSXL console with movies, or standard patching/blurring eye-drop treatment. The Investigators will monitor adverse events (double vision), change in the balance between the two eyes and in visual acuity over 16 weeks.

The Balance Study was one of the TRECA trials being run by the University of York. The resources were based on materials developed within the SCIPI Trial run at Alder Hey Children’s hospital.

The media we produced followed the same format of the easy to use website presenting the Participant Information along with a 60 second Animation summarising the information on the home page. The subject matter of the trial lent itself well to representation as an animation. The website delivered two versions of the Participant Information tailored to the relevant target age group with the site visitor able to switch between the versions using a sticky button at the side of the screen. We also produced a range of talking heads videos with the Principal Investigator Annegret Dahlmann-Noor, as well as patients and parents. These videos appeared alongside the related information in the website. The websites also included the range of Clinical trial animations featured below.