Parents' awareness and perception of children's eye diseases in Arar City Children's eye diseases

Aim: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the parents' awareness and perception of children's eye diseases (CED) in Arar city of Northern Saudi Arabia. Material and Method: This descriptive cross-sectional, interview-based study included a stratified sample of total 1986 Saudi parents including 1030 (52%) females and 956 (48%) males. Their age ranged from 18 to 66 years with the mean age 43.5 +/- 18.4 years. Results: Although 56.7% of the participants had sufficient knowledge about CED, there were significant differences in knowledge scores regarding ages, genders, and educational levels among the participants. The participants showed the highest scores in the questions of refractive errors in children. CED were considered as a serious issue by 1701 (85.6%) participants and 1451 (73%) participants believed that spectacles are acceptable for their kids, while only 529 (26.6%) participants showed a willingness to attend any educational session about CED. About 68% of the participants were satisfied with available CED health services. Among eye complaints in children, eye deviation was the most distressing, which might force the parents to seek immediate medical advice. For periodic examination of their children, only 700 (35%) parents had reported that they had visited the eye clinics. Family and friends' advice was reported to be the most common source of information about CED by 733 (36.9%) participants. Discussion: The parents' knowledge in Arar about CED is not satisfactory and in need of being improved further. More focused educational programs on early detection and proper management of CED are recommended.