Detection and Clinical Reference of Strabismic Children at Coimbatore District

Introduction

One of the common visual problems faced by young children is having crossed eye condition resulting from an eye muscle irregularities which makes one of the eyes farsighted than the other, a disorder which is called as strabismus. This imbalance forces the normal eye to work hard to cope with the functions of farsighted eye, which if left untreated leads to its loss of vision deliberated by Toronto (1969).

Need and importance of the study

Early identification and treatment of the squint problem in children prevents permanent visual loss. Therefore all the children should have a thorough eye examination at least between ages 3 and 5 years. Therefore early eye examination is of utmost importance. In general, parents think that nothing can be done to improve vision in the Strabismic eye. This can be reduced to a great extent in majority of cases, if it is detected around the age of 3-4 yrs. Realizing the need for the early eye examination the researcher selected this study.

Objectives of the Study

•                     Screen children using indigenous devices and techniques.

•                      Identify children with strabismus and atrisk for strabismus enrolled in anganwadi programme.

•                     Refer children with strabismus and atrisk for comprehensive clinical examination and treatment to help them to attain correct visual responses and develop healthy vision.

Methodology

The researcher adopted Quasi – experimental study to screen and identify children with strabismus and at risk for strabismus enrolled in Anganwadi Programme.

            The investigator also used Case study approach for careful and critical investigation of the individual’s sensory skills particularly vision skills with the support of parents and teachers. The study was designed on the basis of Pretest and Posttest without control group Design.

Site description

The present study was conducted in Anganwadi schools situated at Coimbatore district covering North block and South block including both urban and rural areas. The Strabismic children were identified from 40 Anganwadi schools.

Sample selected for the study

The investigator used Purposive Sampling technique to select the sample for this study. The sample chosen for the present study consisted of 1000 preprimary children age group between 2 – 5 years. These children were enrolled in 50 Anganwadi schools, registered under ICDS project of Coimbatore District.

The investigator gathered information from the teachers and parents with regard to the problems encountered by the anganwadi children. Based on the information, the investigator used Hirschberg method and identified 31 children having Strabismic and at risk for Strabismic condition. They were once again screened with the help of adapted checklist from WHO (1993) to find out if there are any problems such as appearance of the eyes, complaints and behaviour of the child.

Tools used for the study

Based on the objectives of the study, the investigator selected suitable tool such as

 i) Personal data bank to collect the information about the subjects such as name, age, gender, date of birth, order of child, any visual problems in family, qualification, occupation and income of parents.

ii) Vision screening checklist developed by WHO (1993) which consisted of 50 items listed under 3 areas, such as Appearance of the eye, Complaints encountered by the children and Behaviour of the children. The purpose of the checklist was to screen the Strabismic condition associated with any other visual defects.

Findings of the study

The major findings are summarized as follows:

      9 children were identified with Strabismic eyes.

      Out of which 7 were boys and the remaining 2 were girls i.e., the prevalence of strabismus among boys is more than girls.

      The highest percentage of the Strabismic children fall under the age group of more than 3½ years.

      It was found that cent percentage of the children were congenitally Strabismic.

      While analyzing the type of strabismus 73% of them having Esotropia and the remaining 27% of them represented Exotropia. It was noted that none of the children had Hypotropic and Hypertropic Strabismic.

      It is revealed that children with strabismus and atrisk referred for comprehensive clinical examination and treatment helped them to attain correct visual responses and develop healthy vision.

Conclusion

            Early identification and intervention is the best means to minimize the eye defects associated with strabismus. Despite enormous challenges encountered by the Strabismic children in day to day activities they can also achieve great deals in their life through proper training and follow up of remedial and awareness  programmes. The early identification and intervention enhance equal opportunity and exposure in education and employment in the right time for the Strabismic children. Thus the research carried out currently leads us to more hope in the search for the causes and intervention for strabismus. Awareness among the parents of anganwadi children enhanced them to undertake the identification process, to know about the childs eye condition. So that every child enrolled in anganwadi schools will be benefited.

References

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