Knowledge, attitude and associated factors among primary school teachers regarding refractive error in school children in Gondar city, Northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Introduction: Refractive error is an important cause of correctable visual impairment in the worldwide with a global distribution of 1.75% to 20.7% among schoolchildren. Knowledge of refractive error play an important role in encouraging people to seek treatment that helps in reducing the burden of visual impairment in a society. There is limited data regarding knowledge, attitude and associated factors about refractive error in school children among primary school teachers in Ethiopia as well as in the study area. Objective: To determine knowledge, attitude and associated factors among primary school teachers regarding refractive error in school children in Gondar city. Methods: Institution based cross sectional study was conducted on 565 primary school teachers from April 20toMay 23, 2017 in Gondar city. Simple random sampling method was used to select schools. All primary school teachers from selected schools were included in the study. A pretested and structured self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The data was entered into Epi Data version 3.1 then exported to SPSS version 20 for processing and analysis. Binary logistic regression was fitted and variables which had P value of <0.05 in the multivariable analysis were considered as statistically significant. Result: A total of 565 study subjects were participated in this study with a mean age of42.05 ± 12.01 years. Of these study participants 55.9% (95% CI: 51.9, 59.8) had good knowledge and 57.2%(95% CI: 52.9,61.4) had favorable attitude towards refractive error. History of spectacle use [AOR=2.13(95% CI: 1.32, 3.43)], history of eye examination [AOR= 1.67 (95% CI: 1.19, 2.34)], training on eye health [AOR= 1.94 (95% CI; 1.09, 3.43)]and11-20 years of experience [AOR =2.53 (95% CI: 1.18, 5.43)]were positively associated with knowledge. Where as being male [AOR = 2.03 (95% CI: 1.37, 3.01)], older age [AOR= 3.05 (95% CI: 1.07, 8.72)], 31-40years of experience [AOR= 0.23 (95% CI: 0.07, 0.72)], private school type [AOR= 1.76 (95% CI: 1.06, 2.93)]and 5th-8thteaching category [AOR = 1.54 (95% CI: 1.05, 2.24)]were associated with attitude. Conclusion: knowledge and attitude of study subjects were low which needs training of teachers about refractive error.