सामुदायिक चिकित्सा एवं स्वास्थ्य शिक्षा

अमूर्त

A Prospective Study to Assess the Quality of Preliminary Eye Screening Done on School Children by Teachers in Andhra Pradesh

Jyothi Korani, Jachin D Williams, Athira Rose and Rohit Khanna

Aim: To assess the quality of vision screening done by trained schoolteachers on schoolchildren. Method: This study was carried out in Greater Hyderabad by selecting 10 schools in 3 different clusters by means of systematic random sampling. Teachers were imparted training for detecting vision defects and important ocular conditions and were permitted to screen the students using a protocol ascribed to them. Students who were screened by teachers were rescreened by optometrist to compare and analyse the outcome of the training imparted. Results: A total of 25 schoolteachers were trained and utilized for screening 600 students in age ranging from 8 to 13 (mean is 10.5 and ±SD is 1.87) girls constituting 55%. The impact of training increased knowledge level to 88%. Similarity found in detection of children with poor visual acuity <6/9 by both ‘the trained teachers and optometrist. Significant eye conditions which required early intervention were detected with the help of signs and symptoms learnt through the training (Kappa statistic=0.95) suggesting an excellent agreement among the teachers and optometrist. Conclusion: The study results suggest that trained teachers can be relied upon for screening children to identify various eye conditions including refractive errors. This study recommends incorporating a module on vision screening in the teachers’ education curriculum and conducting screening in schools on a regular basis.