<p>Knowledge of Childhood Blindness and Associated Factors Among Parents or Guardians in Maksegnit Town, Northwest Ethiopia</p>

Abstract

Introduction: Childhood blindness is defined as a group of eye diseases occurring in childhood or early adolescence. Good parental knowledge of childhood blindness is important for early detection and management of the lifelong burden. Purpose: This study aimed to assess knowledge of childhood blindness and associated factors among parents or guardians. Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted. Systematic random sampling was used to select the study participants. Data were collected by interview using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS version 20. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify the determinant factors, and p-values less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Results: A total of 524 participants were enrolled in the study, with a 98.49% response rate. The proportion of good knowledge of childhood blindness was 39.1% (95% CI: 34.9-43.3%). Being male (AOR=2.32, 95% CI: 1.4-3.87), higher educational status (AOR=6.47, 95% CI: 2.4-17.3), knowing where the child eye care center is (AOR=2.68, 95% CI: 1.5-4.7) and participation in eye care campaigns (AOR=1.95, 95% CI: 1.26-3.0) had statistically significant associations with knowledge of childhood blindness. Conclusion: Less than half of the study participants had good knowledge about childhood blindness. Being male, having higher educational status, knowing about the child eye care center and participation in eye care campaigns were positively associated with knowledge of childhood blindness.

Knowledge and Awareness of Children Eye Care Among Parents In Malaysia

“…The current study found that most of the participants have sufficient knowledge about childhood eye problems with the highest awareness and knowledge score obtained for blurry vision and refractive errors respectively. This finding of sufficient knowledge is contrary to previous findings reported among parents in low-income countries such as Ethiopia (17) and Nigeria who had low level of knowledge ( 18), but similar to those reported among parents in Saudi Arabia, the emerging high-income country (12) suggesting the influence of economic development of a country on the level of health-related knowledge.…”

“…Parental knowledge on childhood eye problems has been reported in several countries with different economic status and cultures; these two are among the factors that may influence level of health-related knowledge and health seeking behaviour (16). Aseefa et al (17) reported that the overall level of knowledge among parents in Ethiopia on the causes, prevention and treatment options of childhood blindness was considered low; with only one-third of the respondents had good level of knowledge. On the other hand, a study in an urban area in Nigeria reported that parents had a high level of knowledge and awareness about cataract and red eye, which was however lower for amblyopia (18).…”