Global optometrist top 200 research ranking.

Clinical relevance: Clinical optometric practice is underpinned by a rigorous research base, the primary evidence for which is publications in refereed scientific journals. Leading optometrists who publish this work should be identified and celebrated.Background: This work aims to derive publication metrics of the leading optometric researchers worldwide.Methods: An extensive global search was conducted to discover leading optometric researchers; 480 names were identified. A custom-designed bibliographic search tool was developed to interrogate the Scopus database (Elsevier) and extract publication metrics using the unique Scopus Author Identifier number for each optometrist. On 13 January 2021, the full list was reduced to 200 optometrists (the 'Top 200') ranked by h-index - the 'Global Optometrist Top 200 Research Ranking'. The output from the custom tool automatically updates every 24 hours and is available at www.optomrankings.com.Results: The Top 200 have h-indices ranging from 20 to 67 and have published between 28 and 440 papers. Sixty one (30.5%) are women. Konrad Pesudovs has the highest h-index (67) and citations (51,193). The most prolific author is Robert Hess (442 papers). David Piñero is publishing at the fastest rate (17.6 papers per year). The Top 200 work in 13 nations, of whom 172 (86.0%) work in four nations: USA - 76 (38.0%), Australia - 43 (21.5%), UK - 41 (20.5%) and Canada - 16 (8.0%). Of the 72 institutions represented, the University of California, Berkeley, USA is home to the most Top 200 optometrists (17) and has the highest combined h-index of Top 200 optometrists (132).Conclusions: The optometric profession is supported by a robust research base, prosecuted by a large international cohort of optometric researchers who publish extensively on a broad range of ophthalmic issues and whose work is highly cited. The 200 most impactful optometrists in the world are identified.

Child and family factors that predict participation attendance in daily activities of toddlers with global developmental delay.

PURPOSES: Enhancing children's daily participation is the optimal goal of early childhood intervention. This study aimed to identify child and family predictors of participation for toddlers with global developmental delay. METHODS: Fifty-nine toddlers with global developmental delay (aged 24-43 months) and their mothers participated in a 6-month longitudinal study. Predictors for participation were child factors [age, gender, delay severity, mastery motivation (perceived persistence and task persistence), and withdrawal behavior], and family factors (socioeconomic status, family income, maternal education, stress, and maternal teaching behavior). Dependent variables were participation diversity and intensity of four activity types measured 6-month later using the Assessment of Preschool Children's Participation (Chinese version). Correlation and hierarchical regression statistical methods were used. RESULTS: Older children with higher persistence had higher overall participation. Different factors predicted different participation dimensions and different activity types. Older age, higher perceived persistence, and being less withdrawn predicted higher diversity and intensity for play participation. For skill development participation, older age, less severity, higher mastery motivation, and better maternal teaching behaviors predicted higher diversity; and age, mastery motivation and maternal teaching predicted intensity. CONCLUSIONS: Different factors predict participation attendance differently. Supporting parents to enhance toddlers' mastery motivation may optimize children's participation in daily activities.Implications for rehabilitationBased on the child and their caregiver preferences, applicability and/or engagement for different activity types, interventionists could collaborate further with caregivers to find strategies to increase children's participation attendance in daily life.Interventionists could consult with caregivers: (a) to observe the persistence and positive affect (mastery motivation) of children during different activities, (b) to figure out the possible barriers to participation in those activities, and (c) to demonstrate appropriate caregiver-child interactions.Interventionists are encouraged to support children's mastery motivation and quality of maternal teaching behaviors to enhance participation in daily activities.

Is Mastery Motivation a Mediator of Relations between Maternal Teaching Behavior and Developmental Abilities in Children with Global Developmental Delay?

Aims: Mastery motivation refers to a child's persistent attempts to solve problems and learn skills. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine whether children's mastery motivation-mediated relationships between early maternal teaching behavior and later developmental abilities in children with global developmental delay (GDD). Methods: Fifty-six dyads of mothers and their children with GDD (aged 24-42 months) were assessed two times, at study entry and 6-months later. Maternal teaching behaviors were assessed using the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale. Children's developmental abilities and mastery motivation were measured using the Comprehensive Developmental Inventory for Infants and Toddlers and the revised Individualized Moderately Challenging Mastery Tasks, respectively. A Pearson correlation matrix was used to propose hypothetical models, and path analysis was used to examine the mediation effect. Results: Mastery motivation significantly mediated the relationship between maternal teaching behavior and children's cognitive, fine motor, and gross motor abilities 6 months later. Conclusions: Mothers' teaching predicted their children's development directly and also indirectly through the child's mastery motivation. The findings support the importance of the quality of mothers teaching behaviors and the mastery motivation of children with GDD on development.

Do maternal interactive behaviors correlate with developmental outcomes and mastery motivation in toddlers with and without motor delay?

BACKGROUND: Maternal interactive behaviors theoretically affect developmental outcomes and mastery motivation in young children. However, these associations are inconsistent in the literature. OBJECTIVE: The purposes of this study were: (1) to examine the differences in maternal behaviors between toddlers with motor delay (MD) and those with typical development (TD), (2) to investigate the correlation of maternal behaviors and developmental quotients (DQs) in toddlers with MD and TD, and (3) to examine the correlation of maternal behaviors and mastery motivation in toddlers with MD and TD. DESIGN: This was a sex- and mental age-matched case-control study. METHODS: Twenty-two mother-child dyads of toddlers with MD (ages 23-47 months) and 22 dyads of sex- and mental age-matched toddlers with TD (ages 15-29 months) were recruited. Maternal scores from the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale, 2 indicators of motivation (persistence and mastery pleasure) from individualized mastery tasks and the Dimensions of Mastery Questionnaire, and DQs from the Comprehensive Developmental Inventory for Infants and Children were assessed. RESULTS: Mothers of children in the MD group showed significantly lower cognitive growth fostering scores than mothers of children in the TD group. Maternal total scores were significantly correlated with whole DQs in both groups. In the MD group, maternal total scores correlated significantly with DMQ mastery pleasure but not with mastery task motivation. LIMITATIONS: The study design makes it impossible to know the causal relationships between maternal behaviors and children's DQs and motivation. CONCLUSIONS: Mothers of toddlers with MD exhibited less adequate interactive behaviors than mothers of toddlers with TD. Because higher-quality maternal behaviors correlated with higher DQs in the MD group, clinicians should encourage parents to participate in early intervention programs and model high-quality parenting behavior to enhance parents' and children's outcomes.

Individualized behavioral assessments and maternal ratings of mastery motivation in mental age-matched toddlers with and without motor delay.

BACKGROUND: Mastery motivation is a precursor of future developmental outcomes. Evidence about whether toddlers with motor delay have lower mastery motivation is inconclusive. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine differences between mental age-matched toddlers with and without motor delay on various mastery motivation indicators. DESIGN: A mental age- and sex-matched case-control study was performed. METHODS: Twenty-two children with motor delay, aged 23 to 47 months, and 22 children who were developing typically, aged 15 to 29 months, were recruited. Persistence and mastery pleasure were measured with behavioral tasks that were moderately challenging for each child and with maternal ratings using the Dimensions of Mastery Questionnaire (DMQ). The DMQ was rated by each child's mother based on her perception of her child's motivation. Two types of structured tasks (a puzzle and a cause-effect toy selected to be moderately challenging for each child) were administered in a laboratory setting and recorded on videos. Paired t tests or Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used to examine group differences in persistence and mastery pleasure (α=.007, 2-tailed). RESULTS: Children with motor delay were rated lower on DMQ persistence than the typically developing group, but they did not show significantly lower persistence on the structured tasks. There were no significant differences in mastery pleasure between the 2 groups on either measure. LIMITATIONS: Large within-sample variability on the tasks and small sample size makes subgroup analysis (eg, different severities) difficult. CONCLUSIONS: Toddlers with motor delay did not show lower persistence and pleasure when given tasks that were moderately challenging; however, their mothers tended to view them as having lower motivation. Clinicians and parents should provide appropriately challenging tasks to increase children's success and motivation.

Maternal parenting stress and mothers' reports of their infants' mastery motivation.

Mastery motivation is a psychological force that stimulates an individual to attempt to master a task that is challenging to him or her. This prospective longitudinal study examined the relationship between maternal stress, using the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, and infant mastery motivation, using the Dimensions of Mastery Questionnaire, for 150 mother-infant pairs assessed at both 6- and 18-months of age. Infants of mothers with elevated stress levels at 6 months tended to show lower mastery motivation at 18 months (standardized beta=-.46, p=.001). Conversely, infants with lower general competence (standardized beta=-.24, p=.021) and lower persistence during social interactions with other children (standardized beta=-.18, p=.037) at 6 months of age had mothers with elevated total stress at 18 months of age. Implications for programs which simultaneously intervene with child and mother are discussed.

Single-factor repeated-measures designs: analysis and interpretation.

In this column we discussed the selection and interpretation of appropriate statistical tests for single-factor within-subjects/ repeated-measures designs and provided an example from the literature. The parametric tests that we discussed were the t test for paired or correlated samples and the single-factor repeated-measures ANOVA. We also mentioned four nonparametric tests to be used in single-factor within-subjects/repeated-measures designs, but they are relatively rare in the literature. The Compton et al. (2001) article did not provide effect size measures, but they could be computed from the means and standard deviations. Remember that a statistically significant t or ANOVA (even ifp < .001) does not mean that there was a large effect, especially if the sample was large. In the Compton example, the sample was quite small (N = 14), and the findings do reflect a large effect size.

Selection of inferential statistics: an overview.

This column serves as an introduction to selection of appropriate statistical methods. In the next five columns we will discuss conceptually, and in more depth, these statistical methods. We will use clinical examples and discuss why the author(s) selected a particular statistical method and how the results of the statistical method were interpreted.

General design classifications.

This column described the general design classifications of between-groups, within-subjects, and mixed designs. Remember that in between-groups designs, each participant is in only one group or condition. In within-subjects or repeated-measures designs, on the other hand, each participant receives all the conditions or levels of the independent variable. In mixed designs, there is at least one between-groups independent variable and at least one within-subjects independent variable. In classifying the design, do not consider the dependent variable(s). The classifications and descriptions presented in this column are for difference questions, using the randomized experimental, quasi-experimental, and comparative approaches to research. Appropriate classification and description of the design are crucial for choosing the appropriate inferential statistic, which is the topic of the next column and several to follow.