SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES AND UTILIZATION OF PRESCRIBED EYEGLASSES AMONG STAFF OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA

Asuquo I Enyim

doi:10.7176/jep/10-7-10

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the influence of socio-demographic variables on utilization of prescribed eyeglasses among staff of tertiary institutions in Akwa Ibom State. Specifically, the influence of age, gender, level of education, profession, years of service, income status, attitudes, beliefs and age of onset (of vision impairment) were examined on the utilization of eyeglasses. Nine research questions and nine hypotheses formulated to guide the study. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population for the study comprised only staff that used prescribed eyeglasses out of the 4,498 senior staff of the nine approved tertiary institutions in the state. A sample size of 900 was selected through stratified purposive sampling. A researcher developed instrument titled “Socio-demographic Variables and Utilization of Prescribed Eyeglasses Questionnaire (SVUPEQ)” with reliability index of .83 was used for data collection. A total of 882 (98%) of the 900 distributed copies of questionnaire were retrieved. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. Mean and Standard deviation were used to answer the research question; while Analysis of Variance and Independent t-test were used for test of hypotheses at .05 probability level of significance. Findings revealed that seven out of the nine examined variables exerted statistical significant influence on utilization of prescribed eyeglasses. It was therefore concluded that Socio-demographic Variables (level of education, profession, years of service, income status, attitudes, beliefs and age of onset) have statistical significant influence on utilization of prescribed eyeglasses among staff of tertiary institutions in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Intensive vision-health education campaign was recommended to enhance improvement in the rate of utilization of prescribed eyeglasses.’ Keywords : PRESCRIBED EYEGLASSES, SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES DOI : 10.7176/JEP/10-7-10 Publication date :March 31 st 2019

Highlights

Background of the StudyThe eye is a very important organ for sight
The presentations are in line with the nine research questions and nine hypotheses that were formulated to guide the study in the following ways: Presentation of the Results (A)Answering of the Research Questions Research Question 1: How does age influence the utilization of prescribed eyeglasses among staff of tertiary institutions in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria?
The result of the present study indicated that the respondents who had vision impairments from childhood, young adulthood and those whose vision problem started at middle age were more influenced to make use of prescribed eyeglasses than others

Summary

Introduction

No man can function effectively in any occupation without healthy eyes with good vision. The most common vision problems that affect people of all age-groups are the refractive errors. Such refractive errors occur when the shape of the eyeball is either too long or too short to prevent light rays that enter the eye from focusing on the retina. Vision Spring (2007) acknowledged that vision impairment due to refractive error is a very serious health problem because it is always associated with severe physical, emotional, educational, socio-economic and public-safety implications. Vision impairment from uncorrected refractive errors has tremendous impact on people’s quality of life, limiting the educational and employment opportunities of people as well as reducing the productivity of workers

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