Eye Health Seeking Behavior and Its Associated Factors among Adult Population in Mangu LGA, Plateau State, Nigeria

Abstract

Purpose: This study was aimed to explore the eye health-seeking behaviors and its associated factors among adult population of Mangu Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State, Nigeria in order to promote individual determination for attaining better eye health-seeking behaviors. Methods: This study was a population-based descriptive cross-sectional survey of 802 adult population aged 18 years and above was conducted in Mangu L.G.A, Plateau State, Nigeria using a multi-stage cluster random sampling design. Sociodemographic and eye health-seeking behavior data were collected using self-administered questionnaires. Vision status was defined using World Health Organization categories of visual impairment based on presenting Visual Acuity (VA). Data collected were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 20.0. All p-values reported were two tailed and significance was defined as P<0.05. Results: Although a total of 960 respondents were enumerated for the study, 802 (83.5%) adults participated. There were more female 525 (65.5%) than males 277 (34.5%). The majority 585 (72.9%) of respondents who had eye problems sought care for the eye problem. One hundred and fifty-seven (36.0%) and 153 (35.1%) sought care at the General hospital and at the community health centre respectively. While 38 (8.7%) and 29 (6.7%) sought care from ophthalmologists and Optometrists respectively. Cost of services (34.4%), language barrier (13.0%), decides not to seek care (10.1%) and transportation (9.1%) were the major reasons for not seeking eye care. Conclusion: Although the majority of the respondents sought care for their eye problems, quite a large number of them sought care from non-eye care professionals. Cost of services, language barrier, transportation and services not available in the area were the major factors associated with eye health-seeking behaviour. Reduction in cost of services and health insurance coverage will mitigate these barriers substantially.