Improving myopia awareness via school-based myopia prevention health education among Chinese students

AIM:To investigate the myopia awareness level,knowledge,attitude,and skills at baseline and to implement and evaluate the efficacy of myopia prevention health education among Chinese students.METHODS:A total of 1000 middle school students from 2 middle schools were invited to participate in the study,and myopia prevention health education was conducted.The students were assessed at baseline,followed by a survey.The efficacy of health education was evaluated using the self-comparison method pre-and post-health education.RESULTS:The study included 957 and 850 pre-and post-health education par ticipants,respectively.The baseline knowledge of all respondents on myopic symptoms(87.5%),myopia is a risk of eyes(72.9%),myopia prevention(91.3%),myopia increases with age(86.7%),performing periodic eye examinations(92.8%),and one first,one foot,and one inch(84.8%)significantly increased after health education(P<0.001 for all).However,the percentage of students who still did not think it necessary to take breaks after 30-40min of continuous near work was 27.0%.The opinion that“myopia can be cured”was still present in 38.3%.CONCLUSION:Implementing school-based myopia prevention health education improves knowledge,attitudes,and skills regarding myopia among Chinese middle school students.