Barriers to the uptake of eye care services: A cross-sectional survey from rural and urban communities

Author:

Owusu-Afriyie BismarkORCID,Peter Nancy,Ivihi Felix,Kopil Issac,Gende Theresa

Abstract

Purpose To explore the barriers to the uptake of eye care services in urban and rural communities in Papua New Guinea. Methods This was a population-based cross-sectional descriptive study and involved multi-stage sampling. Communities were randomly selected from each of the three clusters of Madang District for free eye care outreaches from June to September 2022. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the outreach patients. The study excluded attendees who refused to consent. Responses were rated from 1 (not a barrier) to 10 (a very strong barrier). The p-value significance was set at ≤ 0.05. Results The majority of the 972 participants (60.2%) were from rural communities. The mean age of participants was 40.82 ± 13.14 years. Almost two-thirds of the participants (61.4%) never had an eye examination before this study was conducted. All the participants reported that time constraint, insufficient income, good vision in the fellow eye, not considering their eye conditions as serious issues and cultural beliefs were personal barriers to accessing eye care services. Provider-related challenges included long waiting periods at eye clinics and fear of procedure complications. There were differences in barriers with respect to the participants’ demographic clusters. Conclusion There are major personal- and service-related barriers to eye care services in Madang. These barriers could be overcome through strategic human resource development, health education, school screening programs, and establishing eye care centres in the communities to improve the uptake of eye care services in Madang and more widely across the country.

Publisher

Public Library of Science (PLoS)

Reference42 articles.

1. Barriers to uptake of referral eye care services among the elderly in residential care: the Hyderabad Ocular Morbidity in Elderly Study (HOMES).;S Marmamula;Br J Ophthalmol,2022

2. Guidelines for the management of neovascular age-related macular degeneration by the European Society of Retina Specialists (EURETINA).;U Schmidt-Erfurth;Br J Ophthalmol,2014

3. A population-based cross-sectional study of barriers to uptake of eye care services in South India: the Rapid Assessment of Visual Impairment (RAVI) project;S Marmamula;BMJ Open,2014

4. Barriers to accessing eye care services among visually impaired populations in rural Andhra Pradesh, South India.;V Kovai;Indian J Ophthalmol,2007

5. Trends in Prevalence of Diagnosed Ocular Disease and Utilization of Eye Care Services in American Veterans;O Saeedi;Am J Ophthalmol,2017

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3