# Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Regarding Vision and Eye Screening of Preschool Children Among Primary Health Center Staff in the Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia

## TL;DR

This study examines how well primary health center staff in Saudi Arabia know and practice eye screening for young children.

## Contribution

The study provides insights into the KAP of PHC staff regarding preschool eye screening in the Qassim region.

## Key findings

- PHC staff showed high knowledge and attitude but lower practice in preschool eye screening.
- Doctors had better knowledge and attitude than nurses.
- Preferred information sources included medical journals and eye care professionals.

## Abstract

Purpose

To study the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) regarding vision and eye screening of preschool children among primary health center (PHC) staff in Qassim, Saudi Arabia.

Methods

A survey of PHC staff was conducted in 2023. The questionnaire included knowledge (10), attitude (five), and practice (five)-related questions associated with preschool vision and eye screening. A five-graded Likert scale was used for responses. Cronbach’s alpha score of the questionnaire was 0.776. The KAP score was correlated with the demographic variables of participants. The current and desired sources of information were also collected.

Results

We surveyed 101 health staff (66 doctors and 35 nurses). The median (interquartile range) knowledge, attitude, and practice scores of participants were 4.1 (3.8; 4.3), 4.2 (4.0; 4.6), and 3.6 (3.0; 4.0), respectively. The doctors had better knowledge (Mann-Whitney U test (MW), P = 0.016) and attitude (MW, P = 0.019) than the nurses. Staff above 40 years had better knowledge (Kruskal-Wallis H test (KW), P = 0.035), attitude (KW, P = 0.017), and practice (KW, P < 0.001). The primary source of information about preschool vision screening was their medical education (51%). Other sources were eye care professionals (11.9%), Google and computers (12.9%), and social media (14.9%). Their preferred sources of information were medical journals (25.7%), eyecare training (22.8%), and eye professionals (33.7%).

Conclusions

Knowledge and attitude for eye and vision screening of preschool children was high, but practices were less among PHC staff. Providing information through their preferred mode could further strengthen eye care for preschool children.