Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Public Health
Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2015

Open Access 01-12-2015 | Research article

Visual impairment, coping strategies and impact on daily life: a qualitative study among working-age UK ex-service personnel

Authors: Sharon A. M. Stevelink, Estelle M. Malcolm, Nicola T. Fear

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2015

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Sustaining a visual impairment may have a substantial impact on various life domains such as work, interpersonal relations, mobility and social and mental well-being. How to adjust to the loss of vision and its consequences might be a challenge for the visually impaired person. The purpose of the current study was to explore how younger male ex-Service personnel cope with becoming visually impaired and how this affects their daily life.

Methods

Semi-structured interviews with 30 visually impaired male ex-Service personnel, all under the age of 55, were conducted. All participants are members of the charity organisation Blind Veterans UK. Interviews were analysed thematically.

Results

Younger ex-Service personnel applied a number of different strategies to overcome their loss of vision and its associated consequences. Coping strategies varied from learning new skills, goal setting, integrating the use of low vision aids in their daily routine, to social withdrawal and substance misuse. Vision loss affected on all aspects of daily life and ex-Service personnel experienced an on-going struggle to accept and adjust to becoming visually impaired.

Conclusions

Health care professionals, family and friends of the person with the visual impairment need to be aware that coping with a visual impairment is a continuous struggle; even after a considerable amount of time has passed, needs for emotional, social, practical and physical support may still be present.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
Horowitz A. The prevalence and consequences of vision impairment in later life. Top Geriatr Rehabil. 2004;20(3):185–95.CrossRef
2.
Nyman SR, Gosney MA, Victor CR. Psychosocial impact of visual impairment in working-age adults. Br J Ophthalmol. 2010;94(11):1427–31.CrossRefPubMed
3.
Pinquart M, Pfeiffer JP. Psychological well-being in visually impaired and unimpaired individuals: a meta-analysis. Br J Vis Impair. 2011;29(1):27–45.CrossRef
4.
Schilling OK, Wahl HW. Modeling late-life adaptation in affective well-being under a severe chronic health condition: the case of age-related macular degeneration. Psychol Aging. 2006;21(4):703–14.CrossRefPubMed
5.
Bergeron CM, Wanet-Defalque M. Psychological adaptation to visual impairment: the traditional grief process revised. Br J Vis Impair. 2013;31(1):20–31.CrossRef
6.
Kübler-Ross E. On death & dying. New York: Scribner; 1969.
7.
Nyman SR, Dibb B, Victor CR, Gosney MA. Emotional well-being and adjustment to vision loss in later life: a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies. Disabil Rehabil. 2012;34(12):971–81.CrossRefPubMed
8.
Hodge S, Barr W, Bowen L, Leeven M, Knox P. Exploring the role of an emotional support and counselling service for people with visual impairments. Br J Vis Impair. 2013;31(1):5–19.CrossRef
9.
Fazal TM. Dead wrong? Battle deaths, military medicine and exaggerated reports of war’s demise. Int Secur. 2014;39(1):95–125.CrossRef
10.
Blood CG, Puyana JC, Pitlyk PJ, Hoyt DB, Bjerke HS, Fridman J, et al. An assessment of the potential for reducing future combat deaths through medical technologies and training. J Trauma. 2002;53(6):1160–5.CrossRefPubMed
11.
Eastridge BJ, Jenkins D, Flaherty S, Schiller H, Holcomb JB. Trauma system development in a theater of war: Experiences from operation Iraqi freedom and operation enduring freedom. J Trauma. 2006;61(6):1366–72. discussion 1372–1363.CrossRefPubMed
12.
Bellamy RF. A note on American combat mortality in Iraq. Mil Med. 2007;172(10):1023.
13.
Stevelink SA, Malcolm EM, Mason C, Jenkins S, Sundin J, Fear NT. The prevalence of mental health disorders in (ex-)military personnel with a physical impairment: a systematic review. Occup Environ Med. 2014;72:243–51.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
14.
Fugard AJB, Potts HWW. Supporting thinking on sample sizes for thematic analyses: a quantitative tool. Int J Soc Res Methodol. 2015;18(6):669–84.CrossRef
15.
Ritchie J, Lewis J, McNaughton Nicholls C, Ormston R. Qualitative Research Practice: a guide for social science students & researchers. 2nd ed. London: SAGE; 2014.
16.
Brewer BW. Review and critque of models of psychological adjustment to athletic injury. J Appl Sport Psychol. 1994;6(1):87–100.CrossRef
17.
18.
Corr CA. Coping with dying-lessons that we should and should not learn from the work of Kublerross, Elisabeth. Death Stud. 1993;17(1):69–83.CrossRef
19.
Weber JA, Wong KB. Older adults coping with vision loss. Home Health Care Serv Q. 2010;29(3):105–19.CrossRefPubMed
20.
Murray SA, McKay RC, Nieuwoudt JM. Grief and needs of adults with acquired visual impairments. Br J Vis Impair. 2010;28(2):78–89.CrossRef
21.
Wong EYH, Guymer RH, Hassell JB, Keeffe JE. The experience of age-related macular degeneration. J Vis Impair Blind. 2004;98(10):629–40.
22.
Ivanoff SD, Sjostrand J, Klepp KI, Lind LA, Lindqvist BL. Planning a health education programme for the elderly visually impaired person—a focus group study. Disabil Rehabil. 1996;18(10):515–22.CrossRefPubMed
23.
Brouwer DM, Gaynor S, Winding K, Hanneman M. Limitations in mobility: experiences of visually impaired older people. Br J Occup Ther. 2008;71(10):414–21.CrossRef
24.
25.
King A. Why we’re getting it wrong in Afghanistan. In: Prospect. 2009.
26.
Teitelman J, Copolillo A. Psychosocial issues in older adults’ adjustment to vision loss: findings from qualitative interviews and focus groups. Am J Occup Ther. 2005;59(4):409–17.CrossRefPubMed
27.
Thurston M, Thurston A, McLeod J. Socio-economic effects of the transition from sight to blindness. Br J Vis Impair. 2010;28(2):90–112.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Visual impairment, coping strategies and impact on daily life: a qualitative study among working-age UK ex-service personnel
Authors
Sharon A. M. Stevelink
Estelle M. Malcolm
Nicola T. Fear
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2015
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-2455-1

Other articles of this Issue 1/2015

BMC Public Health 1/2015 Go to the issue

Research article

Individual and family environmental correlates of television and computer time in 10- to 12-year-old European children: the ENERGY-project

Research article

Socio-cultural and behavioural factors constraining latrine adoption in rural coastal Odisha: an exploratory qualitative study

Research article

The current status of malaria epidemiology in Bolifamba, atypical Cameroonian rainforest zone: an assessment of intervention strategies and seasonal variations

Research article

Implementation of an HPV vaccination program in Eldoret, Kenya: results from a qualitative assessment by key stakeholders

Research article

‘What a man can do, a woman can do better’: gendered alcohol consumption and (de)construction of social identity among young Nigerians

Research article

Public health management of invasive meningococcal disease in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, 2012: adherence to guidance and estimation of resources required as determined in a survey of local health authorities