Awareness and Knowledge of Poor Vision Among Students in Taif University
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- Category: Vol. 79, December 2011
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Awareness and Knowledge of Poor Vision Among Students in Taif University,ABDULHAMID ALGHAMDI
Abstract
Objective: To assess the level of awareness and knowledge of problem of poor vision in Taif city among the Taif University students.
Methods: A total of 1132 students were randomly chosen from all colleges of the university to participate in the study. They were 686 males and 446 females, 41.2% of them are students in colleges for medical and none medical sciences and the rest were students in the rest of colleges of Taif University. The participants were good representatives of the whole university students. They responded to a structured questionnaire on poor vision to trained field investigators (fifth year medical students). Having heard of the eye disease in question was defined as “awareness’ and having some understanding of the eye disease was defined as “knowledge”.
Results: Awareness of poor vision (~90%) was good. Knowledge of all the eye diseases assessed was ~70%. Students in colleges of sciences were significantly more aware of the poor vision problem than students from the other colleges. ~35% of female students and 30% of male students answered don’t know when they asked about knowing about poor vision. There is a little difference in knowledge about poor vision among students in different academic years, being more in the last years than in the early years of academic years. The major source of awareness of poor vision was a family member, of the eye diseases was a family member/friend/relative suffering from that eye disease.
Conclusion: These data indicate that knowledge of poor vision and its cause and possible prevention is unsatisfactory, and the available data suggest that there is a need for health education in this population to increase their level of awareness and knowledge of common eye diseases. Such awareness and knowledge could lead to better understanding and acceptance of the importance of routine eye examinations for the early detection and treatment of eye diseases, thereby reducing visual impairment in this population.