Abuallut Ismail I, Alameer Khalid M, Abuageelah Bandar M, Hurissi Eman, Alqahtani Masoud M, Gosadi Ibrahim M, Tubaigy Faisal M, Alyami Yousef M
Department of Surgery, Ophthalmology Division, Jazan University, Jazan, SAU.
Department of Medicine, Jazan University, Jazan, SAU.
Cureus. 2023 Nov 17;15(11):e48956. doi: 10.7759/cureus.48956. eCollection 2023 Nov.
Background Amblyopia is a vision disorder that results from a development problem in the brain rather than a neurological disease in the eye. The condition causes reduced visual acuity in one or both eyes due to the brain's inability to process inputs, rather than a structural abnormality. This study aims to assess parents' awareness, knowledge, and perception of amblyopia in their children in the Jazan region, Saudi Arabia. Methods This is a cross-sectional study that used an electronic questionnaire consisting of five main sections to assess the level of awareness of amblyopia among parents in the Jazan region. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v.25, IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) was utilized to input the data. The degree to which participants' level of awareness was related to variables such as age, gender, and educational level was assessed through the chi-square test (χ2), and any values that scored p-values under 0.05 were deemed statistically significant. Results The analysis included 572 participants, 395 mothers (69.0%) and 177 fathers (31.0%). The age groups of the participants were divided into 36-45 years (38.0%), 26-35 years (36.0%), and above 46 years (17.0%). Out of the total, 36 participants (6.0%) had a history of amblyopia, and 73 (13.0%) had a child who suffered from amblyopia. The findings showed that only 18 participants (3.1%) had a good awareness of amblyopia, while 242 (42.3%) had a fair level of awareness. Most participants, 312 (54.5%), were classified as having a poor awareness level of amblyopia. Parents with postgraduate degrees, those with prior awareness, and parents whose children had eye diseases demonstrated higher levels of good awareness. However, gender, age, and residency did not have significant associations with awareness levels. Conclusion While parents must be involved in managing amblyopia, our research found that more than half of the parents surveyed had a limited understanding of various aspects of the disease, which can cause permanent damage to their child's vision. Therefore, we recommend implementing health education programs to increase awareness and knowledge about amblyopia in Jazan.
弱视是一种由大脑发育问题而非眼部神经疾病导致的视力障碍。该病症是由于大脑无法处理输入信息，而非结构异常，从而导致一只或两只眼睛的视力下降。本研究旨在评估沙特阿拉伯吉赞地区父母对其子女弱视的认知、知识和看法。
这是一项横断面研究，使用了一份由五个主要部分组成的电子问卷，以评估吉赞地区父母对弱视的认知水平。使用社会科学统计软件包（SPSS v.25，IBM公司，美国纽约州阿蒙克）输入数据。通过卡方检验（χ2）评估参与者的认知水平与年龄、性别和教育水平等变量的相关程度，任何p值低于0.05的值都被视为具有统计学意义。
分析包括572名参与者，其中395名母亲（69.0%）和177名父亲（31.0%）。参与者的年龄组分为36 - 45岁（38.0%）、26 - 35岁（36.0%）和46岁以上（17.0%）。在总数中，36名参与者（6.0%）有弱视病史，73名（13.0%）有患有弱视的孩子。研究结果显示，只有18名参与者（3.1%）对弱视有良好的认知，而242名（42.3%）的认知水平一般。大多数参与者，312名（54.5%），被归类为对弱视的认知水平较差。拥有研究生学位的父母、有过相关认知的父母以及孩子患有眼部疾病的父母表现出较高的良好认知水平。然而，性别、年龄和居住情况与认知水平没有显著关联。
虽然父母必须参与弱视的管理，但我们的研究发现，超过一半的受访父母对该疾病的各个方面了解有限，这可能会对孩子的视力造成永久性损害。因此，我们建议在吉赞实施健康教育项目，以提高对弱视的认识和了解。
