Comparison of Optometry Students’ Confidence, Adherence, and Experience in Using Lensometry

Purpose: To investigate the confidence levels of optometry students in performing lensometry and to identify factors influencing it. Methods: This cross-sectional research was carried out on 51 undergraduate optometry students (26 fourth-term and 25 sixth-term) at Zahedan City, Iran, in 2024. Each participant provided feedback on the impact of the lensometry training on their confidence levels via a four-section structured questionnaire using a census sampling method. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and multiple regression model were employed to analyze information. The significance level was set at 0.05. All analyses were performed using SPSS ver. 26.0. Results: Fourth-term students had a significantly higher mean confidence score (55.19) than sixth term students (55.19 vs. 49.72; p = 0.03). The mean lensometry experience score was also notably higher for fourth-term than sixth-term students (11.88 vs. 10.40; p = 0.03). A significant positive association was detected between lensometry experience and student confidence (r = 0.69, p < 0.001). Additionally, there was a moderate direct association between adherence to basic principles and confidence (r = 0.53, p < 0.001). Confidence in performing lensometry for bifocal lenses (74.50%) was significantly higher compared to progressive lenses (31.37%), which correlated with more experience in bifocal lensometry (70.59% vs. 25.49%). Notably, 89.54% of students lacked experience in reading prism, resulting in lower confidence (21.85%). Conclusion: Sixth-term students exhibited lower confidence and less lensometry experience than fourth-term students. All students reported lower confidence in performing lensometry on complex lenses. Continuous evaluation of students, giving them appropriate feedback, providing basic training with computer simulators, and doing more exercises with these tools can be useful in solving this problem.