Factors associated with parents' self-reported familiarity with pediatric eye disorders in Jordan: a quantitative analysis of survey data from Jordanian parents.

INTRODUCTION

Parents play an important role in recognizing potential eye problems in children, yet their knowledge and perceptions regarding pediatric eye disorders remain insufficiently characterized in Jordan. This study assessed several dimensions of parental eye-health awareness and examined factors associated with parents' self-reported familiarity with common pediatric eye disorders.

METHODS

We performed a cross-sectional survey on 1,264 parents residing in all twelve governorates of Jordan. The questionnaire had five domains: knowledge of pediatric eye diseases, recognition of symptoms and causes, treatment and management, attitudes toward eye care, and barriers to accessing services. We also asked the parents to classify their familiarity with common pediatric eye disorders, and we used this as the main study outcome. We analyzed the data using descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, independent-samples t-tests, and binary logistic regression.

RESULTS

It was found that most of the participants were women (70.7%), married (93.7%), and had a bachelor's degree (54.7%). 61.1% of parents classified themselves as familiar with common pediatric eye disorders. Over the five domains, parental attitudes toward eye care had the highest mean score, followed by recognition of symptoms and causes. Parental attitudes toward eye care had the highest overall domain score, followed by recognition of symptoms and causes. Participants reporting familiarity had significantly higher scores than those reporting no familiarity across all five domains. In the domain-level regression analysis, only knowledge of pediatric eye diseases (OR = 2.13, p < 0.001) and treatment and management (OR = 1.97, p < 0.001) remained independently associated with self-reported familiarity. Over all domains' items, the strongest predictors were: correct knowledge about the age range affected by amblyopia, awareness that strabismus can lead to amblyopia, and correct understanding that wearing glasses does not worsen a child's vision.

CONCLUSIONS

Participating parents generally demonstrated positive attitudes toward pediatric eye care but showed important gaps in disease-specific and treatment-related knowledge. Several knowledge and treatment-related items were associated with self-reported familiarity, even after adjustment for participant characteristics. These findings identify potential targets for parental eye-health education but should not be interpreted as evidence of actual care-seeking behavior, treatment adherence, or clinical decision-making.