Attitudes to Eye Health: A Focus Group Discussion Among Christian Religious Leaders in Calabar, Nigeria

Introduction: In spite of the comparatively high rate of blindness and other visual impairments in Nigeria, access to orthodox eye care remains low. Religion has been shown to have important effects on health behavior but such effects as regards access to eye health care remains insufficiently explored in local research. Objective: This study aims to assess the knowledge and attitudes as regard eye care and health, among religious leaders in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. Methods: Using a qualitative design, the study was conducted among 15 religious leaders from the Christian religion in Calabar. A focus group discussion was conducted which lasted about 90 minutes and was moderated by trained staff. Audio recordings were made and transcribed for qualitative content analysis. Results: Participants exhibited some basic knowledge of eye disease and causes of blindness. They found yearly eye-checks acceptable and generally agreed that they would encourage their church members to see a doctor when they had eye symptoms. There was also the opinion that the need to go to the hospital was dependent on the church member's faith and the spiritual understanding of illness etiology. Conclusion: There is a need to further engage religious leaders to improve their knowledge and attitudes to eye health and care. Due to the strong influence of religious leaders in a religious country such as Nigeria, they could influence their congregations positively and improve the general resort to orthodox care for eye symptoms.