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Parents’ Awareness and Perception of Children’s Eye Diseases in Madinah, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background The visual system becomes more susceptible to conditions causing abnormal binocular interaction or blurred visual input as it matures during the first six years of life. Therefore, detection and treatment of visual impairment at a young age can lower the burden of the condition in adultho...

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Autores principales: Surrati, Amal M, Almuwarraee, Sarah M, Mohammad, Reem A, Almatrafi, Sarah A, Murshid, Sara A, Khayat, Lujain I, Al-Habboubi, Hussain F
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Cureus 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8958142/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35371836
http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.22604
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author Surrati, Amal M
Almuwarraee, Sarah M
Mohammad, Reem A
Almatrafi, Sarah A
Murshid, Sara A
Khayat, Lujain I
Al-Habboubi, Hussain F
author_facet Surrati, Amal M
Almuwarraee, Sarah M
Mohammad, Reem A
Almatrafi, Sarah A
Murshid, Sara A
Khayat, Lujain I
Al-Habboubi, Hussain F
author_sort Surrati, Amal M
collection PubMed
description Background The visual system becomes more susceptible to conditions causing abnormal binocular interaction or blurred visual input as it matures during the first six years of life. Therefore, detection and treatment of visual impairment at a young age can lower the burden of the condition in adulthood. According to estimates, there are 19 million children worldwide with visual impairment, and 1.4 million children suffer from blindness. One of the strategies to address blinding eye conditions and visual impairment is through health promotion. For children, the efficient way of intervention is through parents and their school environment. Therefore, the establishment of an effective health promotion model for addressing childhood blindness requires awareness building of parents and health care practices. Few studies were undertaken in Saudi Arabia to focus on the awareness of parents about childhood eye diseases and visual impairment. The aim of this study is to assess parents’ awareness and perception of children’s eye diseases in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in Madinah, Saudi Arabia, from January to December 2021. A self-administered questionnaire was randomly distributed to parents of children aged 15 and younger via WhatsApp. The survey consisted of four main sections: socio-demographic data, knowledge about eye care, knowledge about eye diseases, and eye care practice. Results The knowledge about eye diseases in children was of excellent grade in 20 parents (3.6%), good in 101 (18.2%), and poor in 434 (78.2%). Knowledge was good in 287 parents (51.7%) for amblyopia, 65 (11.7%) for childhood cataract, and 69 (12.4%) for childhood glaucoma. The attitude regarding children wearing spectacles and undergoing ophthalmic surgery when needed was positive in 427 (76.9%) and 474 (85.4%) parents, respectively. Over half of the participants (58.6%) had visited an ophthalmology clinic for the examination of their children. Doctors, campaigns, and social media were the preferred modes of receiving knowledge. Participants aged 51 years or over (p = 0.022), with a higher income level (p = 0.004), of Saudi origin (p = 0.036), and those with a child with an eye disease (p = 0.001) had significantly higher knowledge scores about childhood eye diseases. Conclusion The levels of knowledge, practice, and attitude among parents regarding pediatric eye diseases were unsatisfactory. Health promotion through utilizing parents’ preferred modes of media could improve the eye care of children in the study area. 
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spelling pubmed-89581422022-03-31 Parents’ Awareness and Perception of Children’s Eye Diseases in Madinah, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study Surrati, Amal M Almuwarraee, Sarah M Mohammad, Reem A Almatrafi, Sarah A Murshid, Sara A Khayat, Lujain I Al-Habboubi, Hussain F Cureus Family/General Practice Background The visual system becomes more susceptible to conditions causing abnormal binocular interaction or blurred visual input as it matures during the first six years of life. Therefore, detection and treatment of visual impairment at a young age can lower the burden of the condition in adulthood. According to estimates, there are 19 million children worldwide with visual impairment, and 1.4 million children suffer from blindness. One of the strategies to address blinding eye conditions and visual impairment is through health promotion. For children, the efficient way of intervention is through parents and their school environment. Therefore, the establishment of an effective health promotion model for addressing childhood blindness requires awareness building of parents and health care practices. Few studies were undertaken in Saudi Arabia to focus on the awareness of parents about childhood eye diseases and visual impairment. The aim of this study is to assess parents’ awareness and perception of children’s eye diseases in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in Madinah, Saudi Arabia, from January to December 2021. A self-administered questionnaire was randomly distributed to parents of children aged 15 and younger via WhatsApp. The survey consisted of four main sections: socio-demographic data, knowledge about eye care, knowledge about eye diseases, and eye care practice. Results The knowledge about eye diseases in children was of excellent grade in 20 parents (3.6%), good in 101 (18.2%), and poor in 434 (78.2%). Knowledge was good in 287 parents (51.7%) for amblyopia, 65 (11.7%) for childhood cataract, and 69 (12.4%) for childhood glaucoma. The attitude regarding children wearing spectacles and undergoing ophthalmic surgery when needed was positive in 427 (76.9%) and 474 (85.4%) parents, respectively. Over half of the participants (58.6%) had visited an ophthalmology clinic for the examination of their children. Doctors, campaigns, and social media were the preferred modes of receiving knowledge. Participants aged 51 years or over (p = 0.022), with a higher income level (p = 0.004), of Saudi origin (p = 0.036), and those with a child with an eye disease (p = 0.001) had significantly higher knowledge scores about childhood eye diseases. Conclusion The levels of knowledge, practice, and attitude among parents regarding pediatric eye diseases were unsatisfactory. Health promotion through utilizing parents’ preferred modes of media could improve the eye care of children in the study area.  Cureus 2022-02-25 /pmc/articles/PMC8958142/ /pubmed/35371836 http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.22604 Text en Copyright © 2022, Surrati et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Family/General Practice
Surrati, Amal M
Almuwarraee, Sarah M
Mohammad, Reem A
Almatrafi, Sarah A
Murshid, Sara A
Khayat, Lujain I
Al-Habboubi, Hussain F
Parents’ Awareness and Perception of Children’s Eye Diseases in Madinah, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study
title Parents’ Awareness and Perception of Children’s Eye Diseases in Madinah, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_full Parents’ Awareness and Perception of Children’s Eye Diseases in Madinah, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_fullStr Parents’ Awareness and Perception of Children’s Eye Diseases in Madinah, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_full_unstemmed Parents’ Awareness and Perception of Children’s Eye Diseases in Madinah, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_short Parents’ Awareness and Perception of Children’s Eye Diseases in Madinah, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_sort parents’ awareness and perception of children’s eye diseases in madinah, saudi arabia: a cross-sectional study
topic Family/General Practice
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8958142/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35371836
http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.22604
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