Eye Strain and Coated Glasses Preference: A Self-Reported Cross-Sectional Study of Urban and Rural Bankers in a Digitally Driven Modern Banking Landscape in Trinidad and Tobago (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND The modern workplace requirements in the banking sector require bankers to be working on screens for longer than 6 hours a day, putting much stress and strain on their eyes. Use of anti-glare screens and glasses can elevate the strain on the eyes of the users.Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) is a serious occupational hazard that needs to be addressed to ensure that the usage of computers in the digital era do not diminish the quality of life of users. However, there is extremely limited research on CVS and its associated factors the Caribbean nations and to the best of our knowledge, no large scale study has been conducted nationally on the prevalence of CVS among bankers in Trinidad. OBJECTIVE The study aimed to highlighht the prevelence extent of CVS in Trinidad and the factors associated with the risk of developing CVS. By investigating the preferences for coated glasses among bankers, the study aimed to explore the various factors influencing these preferences and their implications for improving eye health in the banking sector. Ultimately, it aimed to provide policymakers and researchers with key insights on why and how to manage the underlying factors for CSV to ensure that bankers keep up with the usage of computers. METHODS A self-reported cross-sectional survey strategy was applied to collect data from the sample population between April and June 2021. The collected data was entered on excel worksheets and was later uploaded to SPSS for further analysis. The association between dependent and independent variables were examined using a binary logistic regression. RESULTS The preference of using coated glasses was impacted by rural location as compared to the urban locations. Moreover, factors like source of light in the workplace, previous use of glasses and coating, and taking rest breaks impacted preference to use coated glasses and screens. Furthermore, ocular issues like frequent headaches, blurred vision and eye fatigue also increased the preference to use anti-glare coating. Only the education level among the assessed demographic factors had a significant impact the use of glass coating as the rest were proven to be insignificant. The use of eye sight glass has an impact on the use of coating with a resulted p-value of 0.00 and an AOR of 23.232. The results also depicted that the diseases like diabetes does not impact the decision to use coating with a p-value of 0.905 and AOR of 0.953. The impact of dry eyes has a significant effect on the intention to use anti-glare coatings with a p-value of 0.024 and AOR of 1.694 respectively. Results however demonstrated that bankers in urban areas are hugely aware of the benefits regarding the usage of anti-glare coating compared to the rural area bankers in Trinidad. CONCLUSIONS The study concluded that there are many factors that can impact the preference of use of coated glasses. However, there is a low healthcare behavior in bankers of rural areas and organizational support is required to elevate the eye strain and stress caused by long hours of working on the computer screens as compared to the urban areas.