BACKGROUND: The role of optometrists in paediatric visual assessment must 
compliment the role of other eye-care practitioners at all levels of care. This 
study was undertaken to determine if optometrists in Ghana screen, diagnose and 
manage paediatric ocular conditions (for example, strabismus, amblyopia), and 
further assessed if optometrists in Ghana have the requisite paediatric 
instrumentation in their practices.
METHODS: This was a cross-sectional descriptive survey involving optometrists in 
both public and private eye-care sectors in Ghana. A paediatric visual 
assessment questionnaire was sent to all registered optometrists in Ghana. The 
contents of the questionnaire evaluated areas of vision assessment, refraction, 
and previous diagnosis and management, which were matched with practice 
characteristics such as location, type of practice and type of employment. 
Chi-squared statistic was used to test associations between variables.
RESULTS: Responses were obtained from 140 optometrists out of the 326 registered 
optometrists, representing a response rate of 46 per cent. Overall, less than 
half of respondents (64 which represents 46 per cent) assessed themselves as 
practising full-scope paediatric eye care. These self-assessment views were more 
common among optometrists at the regional level (111: 79.3 per cent), followed 
by the district (20: 14.3 per cent) and sub-district levels (nine: 6.4 per cent) 
(χ2 = 4.774, p < 0.05), but was not influenced by type of employment, type of 
practice and level of training (p > 0.05). In addition, the study revealed that 
many respondents were more likely to assess pre-schoolers' visual acuity (VA) 
(121: 96.0 per cent), do refraction (109: 88.6 per cent) and perform binocular 
vision (BV) assessment (93: 76.9 per cent) compared to the toddlers' VA (72: 
55.4 per cent), refraction (57: 46 per cent) and BV assessment (68: 56.2 per 
cent).
CONCLUSION: Full-scope paediatric eye care services among optometrists in Ghana 
is limited.