Awareness, knowledge and self-care practices toward glaucoma among final year health science university students in Ghana.

BACKGROUND: In the absence of adequate services, patients have to rely on the few health professionals that they do come into contact with to advise them on their treatment options. The aim of this study was to determine the level of awareness and knowledge of glaucoma, and the association between these factors and self-care practices among final year health science university students in Ghana.
METHOD: A cross-sectional survey involving the use of a structured questionnaire was conducted among 273 final year students (67 per cent) studying at any one of eight health science programs in three selected public universities in Ghana.
RESULTS: All 273 respondents were aware of glaucoma but only 37.7 per cent had knowledge of it. The majority (65.9 per cent) defined glaucoma as raised intraocular pressure, and confused glaucoma with ocular hypertension. Over half (56.8 per cent) had acquired their knowledge of glaucoma during the course of their training. The media also played a major role in glaucoma awareness; however, it played a limited role in impacting on the knowledge of glaucoma. Only 28.6 per cent of respondents had previously undergone glaucoma screening.
CONCLUSION: Although all respondents were aware of glaucoma, their level of knowledge of glaucoma was low. Self-care practices were also generally poor among the respondents. This information may be useful for glaucoma health education in Ghana.