Knowledge of Childhood Blindness among Mothers Visiting a Children’s Hospital in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana.

Abstract

Aim: To determine the knowledge of childhood blindness among mothers visiting a children's hospital in the Kumasi metropolis, Ghana. Methods: This hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted from January to March, 2017. One hundred (100) mothers who visited the Asokwa Children's hospital were conveniently sampled for this study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on demographics, knowledge on childhood blindness and their causes, childhood blindness prevention and treatment and sources of knowledge. Data were entered and analyzed by IBM SPSS Statistics (version 23). Binary logistic regression models were used to identify associated factors. Odds ratios with 95% Confidence interval were computed to assess the strength and significant level of associations. Results: The mean age (±SD) of the sampled mothers was 32.31 (±5.56) years. The study showed that 76 (76%) mothers had good knowledge about childhood blindness. 'Ocular injuries' was the most identified disease that could cause childhood blindness, with 'hereditary retinal dystrophies' being the least. The main source of maternal knowledge on childhood blindness was during pregnancy care (55%: antenatal and postnatal care). Mothers' educational level was the only factor that significantly influenced maternal knowledge of childhood blindness (p<0.001). Conclusion: Maternal knowledge about childhood blindness was high. However, intervention modalities that focus on increasing level of parental education, access to antenatal and postnatal care services, and promoting girl-child education should be promoted to help continually raise awareness and knowledge of childhood blindness.

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

“…In both situations, urban residents may have access to better information than rural residents, which may be the reason why they had good knowledge of childhood blindness. The proportion of good knowledge of childhood blindness in this study was lower than that reported in other studies from Ghana (76%) 3 and India (78%). 21 One possible reason for this difference may be that the study settings for the previous studies being hospital based, whereas the current study was community based.…”

“…Participants who had an educational status of college or above were positively associated with a good knowledge of childhood blindness, which was supported by studies conducted in Ghana, 3 Gondar rural districts 17 and Nepal. 19 This may be because of educated parents being more likely to seek health facilities, thus obtaining information regarding childhood blindness from qualified personnel.…”

“…17 Studies report that many factors affect people's knowledge of childhood blindness. Higher educational status, 3,18 age, 19 media exposure and knowledge of a child eye care center 17,19 were significant factors associated with good knowledge of childhood blindness.…”

“…1,2 It can also be defined as best corrected visual acuity in the better eye of less than 3/ 60 in those less than 16 years of age. 3 Globally, childhood blindness accounts for 4% of cases of blindness and 1% of visual impairment. 4 Based on the WHO 2017 report, childhood blindness was estimated at 1.14 million across the world, with more than 80% of these children living in developing countries.…”

Eye health myths, misconceptions and facts: results of a cross-sectional survey among Nigerian school children

“…On a good note, kumah et al, in cross sectional survey of mothers visiting a children's hospital in Ghane, found that maternal knowledge about childhood blindness was high. However, intervention modalities that focus on increasing the level of parental education, access to antenatal and postnatal care services, and promoting girl--child education should be promoted to help continually raise awareness and knowledge of childhood blindness [9]. a potential second line source of eye health knowledge is the school teachers of the school children.…”