title: Why are there defaulters in eye health projects?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify barriers to attendance for eye examination of schoolchildren.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study. Students in grades 1-4 in elementary school in Guarulhos (Brazil) were screened and referred for ophthalmic examination in 2006. Facilities offered in this project were: examination arranged during weekends, free transportation, spectacle donation and two different opportunities for exam. A questionnaire was applied, by interview, to a sample consisted of students' parents attended in a community project who missed the first call and attended the recall, to identify the reasons for non-attendance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The sample consisted of 767 parents or guardians, corresponding to an equal number of schoolchildren. Personal characteristics of the students: 49.2% male and 50.8% female, 60.2% of them had never received previous ophthalmologic evaluation. Reported reasons for no-show to the project: parents had not received appropriate orientation (35.6%), loss of working day (20.6%), illness (12.4%), had another appointment (10.0%). The need for eyeglasses was higher in the recall.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A significant number of parents did not take their children for ophthalmological exams, even when a second opportunity was offered in projects with transportation facilities, free exams performed during weekends and spectacle donation. The main causes of absenteeism were lack of awareness and work. For 87.1% of the absenteeism cases, the difficulties could be overcome via improved structuring of the first call. A recall increases attendance coverage of target population by only 15.2% (59.3 to 74.5%). Notably, the eye exam campaign was the first exam for most of the absent students.
authors.affiliation: Ophthalmology, Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. reginanoma@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Noma
authors.forename: Regina de S
authors.initials: Rde S
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: Newton
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kara-José
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010290:Parents; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015351:Vision Screening / Q000458:organization & administration*