Abstract
Vision anomalies are identified as one of the impediments to a child’s learning and development. The objectives of school health screening programmes in South Africa and worldwide are meant to support and facilitate learning by identifying and addressing barriers to the health, social and emotional development of children. The purpose of this study is to identify the most appropriate test for detecting visual impairments at primary health care level, explore the current school vision screening programmes and to develop and evaluate strategies to enhance vision screening in South African schools.
An embedded mixed method design was used in the current study with the qualitative data results providing a secondary supportive role to the findings of the three vision screening methods. Data for the quantitative design was collected from 209 learners at three randomly selected Quintile 1 and 2 schools in the province of Gauteng (Johannesburg). The randomly selected children from three schools were visually screened using the conventional, instruments and computer software methods on children in the foundation (Grades R & 1), intermediate (Grades 4 & 5) and senior (Grades 7 & 8) phases of learning, average age 10.13 ± 2.45. The qualitative data was collected using focus group interviews, from three groups of purposively selected school health nurses (n = 13). Data collected using the quantitative design was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Studies (SPSS) software. The qualitative data of this study used the phenomenological approach, which was coded and analysed using Atlas.ti.
In the analysis of the quantitative data better VAs with a line difference were found using the Spectrum eyecare software compared to the Snellen chart and the Optec®5000 methods. The Spectrum eyecare software mean visual acuities (VAs) in MAR obtained for the right, left and both eyes were 0.95±0.83, 1.06±1.21 and 0.87± 0.62, respectively in the range of normal to slightly reduced VAs. ANOVA test revealed statistically significant differences (p<0.05) between the three phases of learning for the measurements of distance binocular and monocular VAs using the Snellen Charts, Spectrum eyecare software and Optec®5000 methods. More than 50% of the participants...
D.Cur.