InfantSEE: Providing a public health program to infants in diverse populations

Data collected by the American Optometric Association (AOA) via 10,000 InfantSEE® assessments conducted during 2006 and 2007, indicated the overall need for vision concern has increased from one in 14 in 2005 to one in nine in 2007. This finding reveals a growing need for early vision examination in infants. The data also identified groups at greatest risk for abnormal status.

Through InfantSEE®, optometrists provide a one-time, comprehensive eye and vision assessment to infants in their first year of life, between the ages of 6 and 12 months, offering early detection of potential eye and vision problems at no cost regardless of income or ability to pay.

InfantSEE® addresses the ways in which providing comprehensive vision assessments will ensure that the infant vision health is developing properly while at the same time providing assurance to mothers that their infant is developing in a healthy manner with respect to their vision needs. Furthermore, InfantSEE® seeks to provide health promotion and education to mothers about vision health in hopes to decrease health disparities and reduce potential health expenditutres.

Utilizing various social marketing tools to address health education and promotion, the goal of the InfantSEE® program was to gain further knowledge about what means the public uses to take advantage of a collaborative program such as InfantSEE® while at the same time providing needed vision assessments to ensure healthy vision development in the infant as well as providing reassurance to mothers that their infant has healthy vision development.