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Multicenter Study
. 2018 Aug 29;18(1):217.
doi: 10.1186/s12886-018-0890-3.

A qualitative study on gender barriers to eye care access in Cambodia

Camille Neyhouser  1   2 , Ingrid Quinn  3 , Tessa Hillgrove  4 , Renee Chan  4 , Chhorvann Chhea  5 , Seang Peou  6 , Pol Sambath  6
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

A qualitative study on gender barriers to eye care access in Cambodia

Camille Neyhouser et al. BMC Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Background: The Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF) Cambodia recently partnered with the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MoWA) and National Program for Eye Health (NPEH, part of the Ministry of Health) to establish the Gender Equality in Eye Health Project. As part of this project, a qualitative study was carried out to identify barriers affecting women's access to eye health in Cambodia.

Methods: A cross-sectional qualitative study was conducted in four provinces in both urban and rural locations between May and June 2015. Purposive sampling was used to identify respondents from a range of age groups, geographical locations, and experiences to explore different perceptions regarding access barriers to eye health care. Thirteen women experiencing eye problems (age range 45-84 years; mean age 63 years) and 25 eye health professionals took part in in-depth interviews. Eleven focus groups discussions were held with 69 participants (50 women, 19 married men) to capture the views and experiences of both younger and older women, as well as household decision makers' perspectives.

Results: Gender-based differences in decision-making, access and control over resources and women's social status all contributed to impeding women's access to eye health services. Women relied predominantly on informal sources of information about health, and these channels might be utilised to address barriers to information and access. Disparities in perceived costs of eye health treatment were evident between eye healthcare providers and users: costs were not perceived as a barrier by service providers due to health financing support for poor patients, however, many users were not aware of the availability of the scheme.

Conclusion: Demand-side and supply-side elements interact to reduce women's ability to seek eye treatment.

Keywords: Barriers; Cambodia; Eye care; Gender role.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from each participant prior to taking part in the study through the signature of an Information and Consent form. This form confirmed consent from participants to participate in the study as well as for The Fred Hollows Foundation to publish data collected as part of this study. For illiterate participants, the Information and Consent form was read and a fingerprint/initials requested in lieu of a signature. Confidentiality and anonymity were assured through anonymous interviews and FGDs and de-identification of all data during transcription. All procedures followed were in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

The Cambodian Ministry of Health (MoH) and National Ethics Committee for Health Research (NECHR) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia granted ethical approval for the study.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

This submission has not been published anywhere previously and it is not simultaneously being considered for any other publication. This paper was reviewed and rejected by the International Health Journal. The reason stated by the journal editor was that the findings outlined in the paper are likely to be of more interest to a regional audience than to an international one. We have not changed the manuscript as a result, as we think that the barriers identified by this study are actually valid in other contexts based on other research projects on barriers to eye care for women conducted (but not yet published) in Kenya and Bangladesh by The Fred Hollows Foundation.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Map of Cambodia showing the study areas: Siem Reap, Kampot, Pursat and Tbong Khmum provinces. Legend formula image Study areas. Source: Adapted from: Location map of Cambodia by NordNordWest available at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cambodia_adm_location_map.svg. Licence: Creative Commons by-sa-3.0 de
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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