Knowledge and attitude of patients with ocular surgical conditions towards eye surgery at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital, Uganda. A cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Background.

Globally, most patients with ocular sight problems demanding surgery still lack adequate knowledge and have negative attitudes towards eye surgery. This study investigates the knowledge and attitudes of patients with ocular conditions towards ocular surgery at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital.

 Methodology.

A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used, and simple random sampling techniques were employed with the use of structured questionnaires to collect data from a total of 120 participants. Data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel. The data was presented in the form of tables, charts, and percentages.

 Results.

The majority of the participants (62.5%) were male (50%), and were aged 57 years. 62.5% of the participants resided in urban areas. The majority of the participants (70.8%) knew about eye surgery, but detailed knowledge of specific surgical types was limited (33.3%). Attitudes toward eye surgery were generally negative in that (41.7%) of the participants deemed eye surgery very unsafe, (20%) strongly disagreed that eye surgery would improve their vision, and 12.5% reported that they would strongly disagree to go for eye surgery in case it was recommended by the eye specialist.

 Conclusion.

People knew about eye surgery but lacked information about the specific types of eye surgery done. The attitudes towards eye surgery were generally poor.

 Recommendation.

The study highlights the need for targeted educational interventions to enhance knowledge and address misconceptions about ocular surgery in order to reduce the fear of eye surgery among people and increase its uptake.