Attitude Towards Traditional Eye Medicine and Associated Factors Among Adult Ophthalmic Patients Attending University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital-Tertiary Eye Care and Training Center, Northwest Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Traditional eye medicine is a form of biologically based therapies, practices, or partially processed organic or inorganic agents that can be applied to the eye and lead to a blinding complication. Attitude towards those medicines plays a pertinent role in the practice of those traditional eye medicines. OBJECTIVE: To determine attitude towards traditional eye medicine and associated factors among adult ophthalmic patients attending University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital-Tertiary Eye Care and Training Center, Northwest Ethiopia, 2020. METHODS: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 417 newly presenting adult ophthalmic patients who were selected by using a systematic random sampling method from June 22 to August 11, 2020. The data from the interview-based structured questionnaire were entered into Epi Info 7 and analyzed by SPSS 20. Frequency and cross-tabulations were used for descriptive analysis. Association between variables was analyzed using binary logistic regression through the enter method with a 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: A total of 417 subjects with a 98.8% response rate have participated in the study. Of the total study subjects, 60.7% (253) (95% CI: 19–26%) had a positive attitude towards traditional eye medicine. Residing in a rural area (AOR=6.46 (95% CI: 2.89–14.45)), positive family history of traditional eye medicine use (AOR=8.01 (95% CI: 4.17–15.37)) and availability of traditional healer (AOR=19.43 (95% CI: 12.06–31.64)) were significantly associated with a positive attitude towards traditional eye medicine. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: Most adult ophthalmic patients had a positive attitude towards traditional eye medicine. Residing in a rural, availability of a traditional healer, and positive family history of traditional eye medicine use had a significant positive association with a positive attitude. Educating the traditional healers on safe practices is crucial in reducing the burden.