Research
Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study of Barriers to Utilization of Refraction Services in South India: Rapid Assessment of Refractive Errors Study
The study aimed to assess the barriers to the uptake of refraction services in the age group of 15-49 years in rural Andhra Pradesh, India.
A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted using cluster random sampling to enumerate 3,300 individuals from 55 clusters.
Those with uncorrected refractive errors cited affordability as the main barrier to the uptake of eye care services.
Among people with uncorrected presbyopia, lack of ‘felt need’ was the leading barrier.
The barriers that were ‘relatively easy to change’ were reported by those with uncorrected refractive errors in contrast to ‘difficult to change’ barriers reported by those with uncorrected presbyopia.