Accessibility and challenges to ophthalmic instruments acquisition among optometry students in Ghana
Overall, 60.2% of students did not have their own ophthalmic instruments. Slightly more than one third (39.8%) owned a POI that was primarily an ophthalmoscope. Multiple logistic regression showed that financial difficulty (AOR: 0.45, CI: 0.29-0.71, p = 0.001), and lack of access to reliable information on instrument quality (AOR: 0.26, CI: 0.10-0.66, p = 0.005) were significantly associated with lower odds of POI acquisition. About 63.3% of students cited financial difficulty as the main barrier to POI acquisition. The findings call for cost adjustments by stakeholders and increase awareness to optimize POIs acquisition among students. Taken together, the findings aim to improve clinical training and reduce disparities in optometry education among optometry students in Ghana.
Authors
- Eldrick Adu Acquah (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5618-568X)
- Prince Mintah (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9043-7107)
- Isaiah Osei Duah (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4501-8602)
- Kwadwo Owusu Akuffo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6683-249X)
- Michael Asante
- A. H. Andrews
- Beatrice Okrah (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-1694-7994)
- Albert Kwadjo Amoah Andoh
- Bright Kusi Owusu
- Samuel Benaiah Oppong
Institutions
- Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (GH)
Publication Details
- Journal
- BMC Research Notes
- Published
- 2025-07-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-025-07385-y
- Primary Topic
- Ophthalmology and Visual Health Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology