Mothers' Care for their Children with Cataract

Background: Cataract is one of the serious eye problems, the second leading cause of visual impairment and the first cause of blindness globally. This study aimed to assess mothers' care of their children with cataract. Research design: A descriptive research design was utilized in this study. Setting: This study was conducted at the Ophthalmological Outpatient Clinics of Benha University Hospital, in Benha City, Qualyobia Governorate, Egypt. Sample: A convenience sample of mothers having children with cataract attended to the previous mentioned setting, it included 102 mothers with their children. Tools: I) An structured interviewing questionnaire to a) assess socio demographic characteristics of the studied mothers, assess personal data of children with cataract, b) the past medical history of children with cataract, C) assess mothers' knowledge about cataract. II): a) An observational checklist to assess the mothers' practices regarding care of children with cataract. Results: 3.9% of studied mothers had good total knowledge level about cataract and 89.2% of the studied mothers had un satisfactory total practices regarding care of children with cataract. Conclusion: Three quarters of the studied mothers had poor total knowledge level about cataract. The minority of the studied mothers had satisfactory total practices about cataract also, there was highly statistically significant relation between the studied mothers` total knowledge scores and their total practices scores about cataract. Recommendations: Health educational program should be developed and implemented for mothers to improve their knowledge and practices regarding care of their children with cataract.