Eye health knowledge and health-seeking behaviours in Ghana

African Vision and Eye Health

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Eye health knowledge and health-seeking behaviours in Ghana
 
Creator Ofosu, Anthony Osei, Ivy Hagan, Maria Biekro, Leticia Awedoba, Albert K.
 
Subject Ophthalmology; Community Eye Health; Primary eye health Eye health; knowledge; health seeking behaviours; CHPS; PHC
Description Background: To improve access to comprehensive eye health services within the community, an intervention study that sought to integrate primary eye care (PEC) into existing primary health care (PHC) services, namely Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS), was conducted.Aim: To improve access to eye health at community level.Setting: The study was conducted in Northern, Eastern and Western Regions of Ghana.Methods: The study was a cross-sectional exploratory study, which employed both qualitative and quantitative methods. It used multistage cluster randomised sample design. The study involved a household survey, observation, focus group discussions (FGDs), in-depth interviews (IDIs) and informal discussions and case narratives.Results: The findings of the baseline survey covered information on the eye health knowledge, and health-seeking behaviours at community level. Out of the total 1760 people interviewed, 52.5% were women. The educational level of the respondents was low, 35.7% had no education and only 3% had tertiary education. All the study communities, including 67% of survey respondents, said eye disease was the third most common health problem. Overall knowledge about specific diseases was low. Only 3% and 5% of respondents mentioned trachoma and glaucoma, respectively, as a cause of blindness. All community members tended to either seek help from the practitioner closest to them or else alternate between different practitioners.Conclusion: The study showed that eye disease was a common health problem in all the communities. The community members desired eye care services manned by trained personnel close to them. Using CHPS appeared to be an option that can greatly improve access to eye care services in Ghana.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor Orbis
Date 2018-10-09
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Qualitative and Quantitative research
Format text/html application/epub+zip application/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/aveh.v77i1.426
 
Source African Vision and Eye Health; Vol 77, No 1 (2018); 10 pages 2410-1516 2413-3183
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://avehjournal.org/index.php/aveh/article/view/426/912 https://avehjournal.org/index.php/aveh/article/view/426/911 https://avehjournal.org/index.php/aveh/article/view/426/913 https://avehjournal.org/index.php/aveh/article/view/426/910
 
Coverage Ghana; Northern Region; Eastern Region; Western Region 1-23 August 2014 Age 15 years and above; male and females
Rights Copyright (c) 2018 Anthony Ofosu, Ivy Osei, Maria Hagan, Leticia Biekro, Albert K. Awedoba https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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