[Is there a need for a therapeutic education with patients suffering with open-angle glaucoma? Preliminary inquiry regarding knowledge and patient adherence]. / Faut-il une éducation thérapeutique des patients atteints de glaucome à angle ouvert ? Enquête préliminaire des connaissances et de l'observance auprès des patients.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the knowledge and compliance of patients with open-angle glaucoma in order to propose an approach by therapeutic education, validated for other chronic pathologies. METHODS: A questionnaire-based interview of all patients in the waiting room of the glaucoma center is performed by the same health care professional. RESULTS: Out of 200 patients, 73% know they will need to be treated throughout their lives and 95% are aware of the risk of blindness in the absence of appropriate treatment. However, 16% respond that they can be cured, and 54% believe that treatment can save their eyesight. Knowledge increases with the length of follow-up of patients at the glaucoma center beyond one year, but the progress is still insufficient in their confidence that treatment can save their eyesight (36% to 57%), and in the decrease in the number of patients who forget their treatment (56% to 30%). CONCLUSION: Cognitive knowledge is insufficient to encourage the patient to comply with treatment. It is necessary to consider therapeutic patient education (TPE) techniques, such as described by WHO, in group and/or individual sessions, aimed at building the patient's confidence that treatment can delay the progression of the disease and blindness, strengthening his/her capacity to properly administer the eye drops, managing his/her treatment and coping with frequent side effects. Within this framework, our knowledge of the patients' representations of their glaucoma and its treatment must improve.