Assessment of the Queensland School Health Service vision screening programme

Despite the widespread acceptance of vision screening programmes as a means of detecting ocular disorders in children, there has been little formal assessment of their validity and reliability. One such screening programme is conducted in Queensland State Primary Schools by the Division of School Health Services of the State Department of Health. A group of 877 children was screened by the Service and subsequently subjected to a formal independent ophthalmological examination. A comparison of the results of these procedures revealed that the visual screen as performed by the Service was highly accurate in the determination of distant visual acuity. Detection of manifest strabismus was less satisfactory, with between 30 and 74% of sufferers being detected. There is no evidence to suggest that a more complex protocol will improve the detection of ocular disorders. Rather, a more effective implementation of the current screening procedure is required.