Ocular health beliefs among teachers in the public educational system, Brazil

Objective With the purpose of collecting information for training programs targeted to teachers, ocular health beliefs were assessed concerning eyeglasses wear visual problems and damages while reading in different settings. Methods A survey was carried out among first-grade teachers of public elementary schools located in the southern region of S. Paulo city, state of S. Paulo, Brazil. The study population included 545 subjects from 120 different schools. A self-administered structured questionnaire was developed based on a previous exploratory study. Results Average age in this population was 37.8 years and they have been working as educators for an average of 13.2 years: most of them (67.4%) have not received orientation on ocular health for the last three years; almost all of them (99.4%) believed that eyeglasses should be worn constantly: 62.3% considered the fact of a constant vision straining as an aggravating factor for eye disorders; 95% of the teachers admitted that there could be damaging consequences when someone watches television at a distance of less than 2 meters; 59.9% of them believed that watching TV with the lights off could damage one's vision; 45.6% considered reading in a moving vehicle a cause for visual problems. Conclusions Popular beliefs related to eye health reveal a need for orientation programs for teachers in order to implement actions related to eye health within elementary schools.