Willingness to use follow-up eye care services after vision screening in rural areas surrounding Chennai, India.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the willingness to utilise follow-up eye care services among participants of community vision screenings in rural villages surrounding Chennai.


METHODS
Vision screening participants aged ≥40 years were selected by systematic sampling and were invited to respond to a pretested verbal survey with close-ended questions before undergoing screening.


RESULTS
Two hundred and ninety-two people responded. Among the respondents, 50.3% reported experiencing an eye problem, and 53% of these individuals had never had an eye examination. Acceptance rate for eye surgery, medications, and eyeglasses among the respondents was 59.2%, 52.7% and 90.8%, respectively. These acceptances were not associated with sex, age, or employment; medication acceptance was inversely associated with literacy. Surgery acceptance and medication acceptance were associated with area of residence. Presence of another chronic disease was a predictor for surgery acceptance among respondents experiencing eye problems.


CONCLUSIONS
Maintaining consistent quality of services delivered is crucial for increasing uptake of existing eye care services. Educational interventions may increase eye care service usage by targeting all demographic subgroups of rural populations equally. Additional interventions should be offered to patients without previous exposure to the healthcare system.
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Zhuo
Z
Su
New York University College of Dentistry, New York, New York, USA.
Bing Q
BQ
Wang
Unite for Sight, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Jennifer B
JB
Staple-Clark
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Yvonne M
YM
Buys
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Susan H
SH
Forster
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D015351:Vision Screening
Epidemiology; Public health