Awareness and perception regarding eye donation in students of a nursing college in bangalore.
BACKGROUND
Corneal diseases constitute a significant cause of visual impairment and blindness in the developing world. The number of corneal transplants done is far less than the actual requirement in India. This is largely due to the inadequate number of corneas collected. Well-informed nursing students could be expected to influence eye donation rates.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the awareness and perception of 188 first- and second-year nursing students towards eye donation in Bangalore.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study design.


METHODS
A pretested, semi-structured questionnaire.


METHODS
Data were analyzed using the Epi-Info software package, Version 6.04.


RESULTS
The majority (96.8%) of students knew that eyes can be donated after death but only 38.2% knew that the ideal time of donation was within 6 hours of death. Most participants (85.1%) were either willing or had already donated their eyes. Nobility in the act of eye donation was the main motivational force for eye donation according to 85.6% of students. Perceived reasons for not pledging eyes by the students were: the unacceptable idea of separating the eyes from the body (67.9%), lack of awareness (42.8%), objection by family members (28.5%), and unsuitability to donate because of health problem (10.7%).


CONCLUSIONS
This study revealed that nursing students were well aware of eye donations and most of them were inclined to sign-up for eye donation. The perceived reasons for not donating eyes need to be considered while creating awareness about eye donation in the community. The nursing students could be actively involved as volunteers in eye donation campaigns and they can act as counsellors for eye donors. They can also contribute by participating in creating awareness and motivating people to become eye donors.
Gupta
Anita
A
Center of Epidemiology, National Institute of Communicable Diseases, Delhi, India.
Jain
Sudhir
S
Jain
Tanu
T
Gupta
Karan
K