Effective Training of Schoolteacher for Vision Screening: Strategic Control of Visual Impairment in Schoolchildren

Download Article

DOI: 10.21522/TIJPH.2013.07.02.Art006

Authors : Mohammad Junaid Siddiqui, Imran Mehboob Baig

Abstract:

Introduction: Vision helps to perceive details of surroundings and regarded as the most important tool for learning for schoolchildren. World Health Organization (WHO) has prioritized vision screening in schools to decrease the burden of visual impairment (VI) in children. Any change in vision can be identified by schoolteachers when a child has difficulty in seeing the black board and reading books.

Aim: This study is aimed to see if visual screening training to schoolteachers can effectively be used to detect VI in children.

Material & Methods: Visual screening of 1134 eyes of 567 students was done by both the investigator and school teachers and results were formulated and compared. There was no difference in result in 66.31 % eyes. Investigator recorded better visual acuity (VA)+ with a 1-line difference in 14.55% eyes and two lines difference 3.35% eyes. Whereas, teachers recorded one-line better VA in 12.79% eyes and two lines better VA in 3% eyes.

Result: Out of 578 students from the three different schools of Allahabad district, from class 3 to 6, majority (267) belonged to school 3, whereas school 1 had the least (142) number of students.

Conclusion: The present study has identified the role of teachers as visual screeners in schools. The procedure is cost effective and require only visual screening training to the schoolteachers, so they can be used effectively for early detection of reduced vision in schoolchildren.

Keywords: Visual screening, health screening, visual impairment, schoolteachers, schoolchildren.

References:

[1]  Census of India. District Census Handbook, Allahabad (2011). Census of India 2011. Directorate of Census Operations, Uttar Pradesh. https://www.census2011.co.in/census/district/546-allahabad.html

[2]  Dandona R and Dandona L. Refractive error blindness. Bull World Health Organ. 2001; 79: 237–243.

[3]  Dandona R, Dandona L, Naduvilath TJ, et al. Refractive errors in an urban population in southern India: The Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1999; 40: 2810–2818.

[4]  Gene-Sampedro A, Gene-Morales A, Gené-Morales J, Bueno-Gimeno I and Oliver-Huerta D. Visual Health in The Classroom. Conference Paper. Proceedings of ICERI2016 Conference 14th-16th November 2016, Seville, Spain. Publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311363145 DOI: 10.21125/iceri.2016.1411

[5]  Hatch SW, John, McAlister WH, Block Sandra. Optometric Care within the Public Health Community. Cadyville, NY: Published; 2009.

[6]  He M, Huang W, Zheng Y, et al. Refractive error and visual impairment in school children in rural southern China. Ophthalmology 2007; 114: 374–382.

[7]  Health dialogue: A forum for the exchange of new and views on primary health care in India. Inveno.2006; 44: 1.

[8]  IAPB briefing paper: school health programme advocacy paper. London: International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness; 2011. Available from: http://www.iapb.org/sites/iapb.org/files/School%20Health%20Programme%20Advocacy%20Paper%20BP.pdf [cited 2016 Jan 17].

[9]  Jose R, Sachdeva S. School eye screening and the National program for Control of Blindness. Indian Pediatrics. 2009; 46: 205-08.

[10]   Latorre-Arteaga S, Gil-Gonzalez D, Enciso O, et al. Reducing visual deficits caused by refractive errors in school and preschool children: results of a pilot school program in the Andean region of Apurimac, Peru. Glob Health Action 2014; 7: 22656.

[11]   Limburg H, Vaidyanathan K, Dalal HP. Cost-effective screening of school children for refractive errors. World Health Forum 1995; 160: 173-178.

[12]   Manjunatha S N and Krishnaswamy R. Effectiveness of training teachers in vision screening of school children supported by foundation for the prevention of disability. Annals of Community Health 2016; l4 (2): 35-39.

[13]   Marsden J, Stevens S and Ebri A. How to measure distance visual acuity. Community Eye Health. 2014; 27(85): 16. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4069781/

[14]   Minto H and Imran B. Low vision Devices and training. Community Eye Health Journal. 2004 17(49): 6-7.

[15]   Mohammad A.M. Finding children who are blind. Community Eye Health Journal 2007; 20(62) 30-31.

[16]   Pastorino N, Penerini Y. Programa de detección de déficit de la agudeza visual en escolares sin patología ocular aparente." Archivos Argentinos de Pediatría (Buenos Aires) 96.4 (1998): 236.

[17]   Paudel P, Kovai V, Naduvilath T, Phuong H T, Ho S M & Giap N V. Validity of Teacher-Based Vision Screening and Factors Associated with the Accuracy of Vision Screening in Vietnamese Children. Ophthalmic Epidemiology 2016; 23(1): 63-68.

[18]   Pizzarello L, Abiose A, Ffytche T, et al. VISION 2020: The Right to Sight: a global initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness. Arch Ophthalmol 2004; 122: 615–620.

[19]   Priya, A., Veena, K., Thulasiraj, R., Fredrick, M., Venkatesh, R., Sengupta, S., & Bassett, K."ision Screening by Teachers in Southern Indian Schools: Testing a New All Class Teacher” Model. Ophthalmic epidemiology 2015; 22(1): 60-65.

[20]   Taryam MO, Abadi KL, Hussein H, Faisal WL, Alam MW et al. Visual Impairments and Eye Morbidities among School-Age Children (5 to 18 Years Old) Qualitative Assessment in Dubai, UAE, 2016. Biomedical and Health Informatics. 2017; 2(2): 9-14.

[21]   Vijayalakshmi P, Miralidhar R. Extent and impact of eye disease in children in India and the status of Paediatric service delivery. Community Eye Health Journal 2010; 23(72): 5127-28.