Awareness and Knowledge of Preschool Vision Screening among Teachers and Eye Care Providers in a sub-urban Municipality in Ghana

Journal Title: Ophthalmology and Vision Science - Year 2017, Vol 1, Issue 2

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the level of awareness and knowledge of preschool vision screening (PVS) among teachers and eye care providers in the New Juaben municipal, Ghana. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Stratified random sampling was used to select the preschools. All teachers in selected preschools were included in study. Convenience sampling was done to recruit eye care personnel for study. Detailed interview-guided questionnaires were used to elicit responses from the participants in this study. Completed data was entered in Microsoft Excel 2010 and Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 16 and analyzed. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: A total of 145 teachers were involved in this study. 90% of which were women and 10% men. 60% of the teachers had handled preschool children for more than 5 years. Out of the 145 teachers, a total of 96 were not aware of preschool vision screening and over 50% also had no idea whether PVS was important or not. The associations of observation of unusual visual characteristics in preschoolers with the gender of teachers and the period of handling preschoolers were found to be significant; with a p value of 0.01 and 0.02 respectively. All the eye care providers had knowledge of PVS but 53.3% of them had never initiated any form of awareness creation to the general public. Conclusion: There is low awareness and knowledge of preschool vision screening and its benefits in Ghana. This suggests that programs to increase awareness should be encouraged and made popular through all available media platforms. Further research should also be done to examine other socio economic factors that may affect preschool vision screening.

Authors and Affiliations

Mohammed Abdul Kabir, Derrick Owusu Ansah, Irene Nkasa Kyeremateng

Keywords

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  • EP ID EP402121
  • DOI -
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How To Cite

Mohammed Abdul Kabir, Derrick Owusu Ansah, Irene Nkasa Kyeremateng (2017). Awareness and Knowledge of Preschool Vision Screening among Teachers and Eye Care Providers in a sub-urban Municipality in Ghana. Ophthalmology and Vision Science, 1(2), 99-107. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-402121