Exploration of Digital Health Technologies

Table 5. The DESQ items used to assess DES and their responses (n = 403).

DESQ items (n = 403)	Yes (%)	No (%)
In the past 12 months:
Did you have dry eyes (frequently feeling dryness in the eye)?	91 (22.6)	312 (77.4)
Did you have eyestrain (frequently feeling pain or strain in the eyes)?	101 (25.1)	302 (74.9)
Did you have irritation or burning in your eyes?	119 (29.5)	284 (70.5)
Did you have red eyes (without apparent reason)?	74 (18.4)	329 (81.6)
Did you have photophobia (sensitivity to bright light)?	136 (33.7)	267 (66.3)
Did you have a halo (notice a ring of light surrounding objects)?	70 (17.4)	333 (82.6)
Did you have blurred vision?	44 (10.9)	359 (89.1)
Did you feel a foreign body in the eye without an apparent reason?	36 (8.9)	367 (91.1)
Did you have a prickling sensation in the eye?	73 (18.1)	330 (81.9)
Did you have watery eyes (tears) without an apparent reason?	89 (22.1)	314 (77.9)
Did you have diplopia (seeing double)?	22 (5.5)	381 (94.5)
Did you have a headache (not related to injury or migraine)?	105 (26.1)	298 (73.9)
Did you have shoulder and/or neck pain (without apparent reasons)?	94 (23.3)	309 (76.7)

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* Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place. DES: digital eye strain; DESQ: Digital Eye Strain questionnaire.

Declarations

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the study participants for generously giving their time to provide the data. We extend our gratitude to Hawassa University for the financial support and resources that made this research possible.

AI-assisted work statement: During the preparation of this work, the authors used Grammarly to assist in refining the clarity and readability of the manuscript text. After using the tool, authors reviewed and edited the content as needed and we take full responsibility for the content of the publication.

Author contributions

MHL and BE: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing, Formal analysis. S Alemayehu, DH, TB, TY, HG, MAA, AY, and S Assefa: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing. TK: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation. All authors read and approved the submitted version.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

This study was approved by the Research Ethics Review Committee (RERC) of Hawassa University (Ref. No.: RERC/11/2024, dated March 27, 2024), and official letters were received from the selected universities in which the data were collected. All procedures in this study were conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Consent to participate

Informed consent to participate in the study was obtained from all participants prior to data collection.

Consent to publication

Not applicable.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon request with no conditions or restrictions for access.

Funding

This study was funded by Hawassa University through its annual thematic research grant. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Copyright

Publisher’s note

Open Exploration maintains a neutral stance on jurisdictional claims in published institutional affiliations and maps. All opinions expressed in this article are the personal views of the author(s) and do not represent the stance of the editorial team or the publisher.

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