Parental attitudes toward myopia prevention: insights from an Australian survey

Prevention or delay of myopia onset has emerged as a promising strategy to reduce the long-term burden of myopia and associated ocular complications. However, little is known about parental awareness of myopia and acceptance of interventions aimed at preventing myopia onset in children. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among Australian parents and guardians of children aged 4–18 years. Participants completed questions assessing myopia awareness, knowledge, personal and child myopia status, and willingness to participate in pre-myopia intervention programs. Associations between participant characteristics and willingness to engage in pre-myopia intervention were evaluated using multivariable ordinal logistic regression. A total of 800 responses were included in the analysis. Participants with myopia and those with a myopic child demonstrated significantly greater myopia awareness and knowledge than other participants. Overall willingness to consider pre-myopia intervention was high, with 76.8% of participants responding Yes, 19.5% Maybe, and 3.8% No. Greater myopia knowledge was independently associated with increased willingness to participate in pre-myopia intervention (OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.25–1.43, p < 0.001). Participants with both myopic and non-myopic children demonstrated lower willingness compared with participants with no myopic children. Cost, evidence of treatment effectiveness, and recommendation from an eye-care professional were the most influential factors affecting participation and adherence to intervention. Australian parents demonstrated high willingness to engage in pre-myopia interventions. Myopia knowledge was the strongest independent predictor of willingness, whereas direct experience with myopia was not. These findings suggest that improving parental understanding of myopia may be critical for successful implementation of future pre-myopia prevention programs in Western populations.