Mehwish Saleem, Nadeem Qureshi, Khizar Nabeel Ali, Maryam Firdous.
Comparison of Knowledge and Practices Between Urban and Rural Primary School Teachers regarding Refractive Errors in Children.
Al-Shifa J Ophthalmol Jan ;17(2):85-92.

A child`s eyes are always in use in classroom and 80% of the learning takes place through vision. Therefore, it is necessary to guide teachers on their role in simple eye care delivery. Objective: Primary aim of this study was to determine the level of knowledge and to assess the practices regarding refractive error in children among primary school teachers, and to evaluate the associated factors affecting the level of knowledge regarding refractive error. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among primary school teachers of urban and rural areas of Rawalpindi for the duration of three months. All the government and private primary school teachers willing to participate in the study were included. An adopted questionnaire was used and all the responses from self-administered questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS version 21. Results: A total 95 respondents were included in this study. Equal number of participants were taken from urban and rural areas of Rawalpindi; Pakistan. Out of these almost half (54.5%) of urban and rural primary school teachers had good knowledge and practice regarding refractive error in their children. Conclusion: The study demonstrates that there is huge gap of knowledge and practices among primary school regarding refractive error, which needs to be addressed immediately, in order to decrease the burden of childhood visual problems in Pakistan.

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