Abstract
Purpose :
To assess the teachers' influence on purchase and wear of glasses among rural Chinese children and their families.
Methods :
These data were collected during a randomized trial of the impact of free glasses distribution on the purchase of more stylish “upgrade” glasses. One 4th and one 5th grade class were chosen randomly at 138 randomly-selected primary schools in Guangdong and Yunnan provinces, China. Children with uncorrected visual acuity (VA) <=6/12 in either eye correctable to >6/12 in both eyes were enrolled, and head teachers underwent VA testing and filled out questionnaires about their own use of spectacles and knowledge and attitudes about children’s spectacle wear. Families’ collection of free glasses at nearby hospitals was recorded, and spectacle purchase and observed wear among children were assessed 6 months later.
Results :
Among 10,234 children screened, 882 (8.6%, mean age 10.6 years, 45.5% boys) were eligible and 276 teachers (100%, mean age 37.5 years, 32.2% male) were enrolled. Baseline spectacle ownership among these children needing glasses was 11.8% (104/882), and 867 (98.3%) children completed follow-up. Among teachers, glasses ownership was 52.7% (145/275), 20.3% (56/275) believed wearing glasses worsened children’s vision, 68.4% (188/275) felt eye exercises prevented myopia, 54.9% (151/275) thought children with moderate myopia should not wear glasses, 50.9% (140/275) did not know glasses could treat myopia, 1.09% (3/275) thought excessive studying could cause myopia, 88.6% (242/273) supported children wearing glasses in their class and 87.3% (240/275) reminded children to purchase glasses. Teacher factors associated with children’s use of glasses included believing wearing glasses harms children's VA (decreased purchase: RR 0.65, 95% CI 0.43, 0.98, P < 0.05); support for students wearing glasses in class (increased acceptance of free glasses: RR 1.42, 95% CI 0.76, 2.68, P < 0.05; increased wear: RR 2.20, 95% CI 1.23, 3.95, P < 0.01) and advising children to purchase glasses (increased acceptance of free glasses: RR 2.41, 95% CI 1.12, 5.19, P < 0.05; increased wear RR 2.81, 95% CI 1.39, 5.66, P < 0.01), but not teacher’s ownership or wear of or knowledge about glasses.
Conclusions :
Though teachers in this setting lack knowledge about children and glasses, they are influential in children’s and families’ purchase and wear of glasses.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.