The determinants of participation in activities of daily living in people with impaired vision
Section snippets
Methods
The participants for the study were recruited from the Vision Australia Foundation (VAF), a low vision service provider, and the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (RVEEH). The inclusion criteria were participants with no history of vision rehabilitation, distance visual acuity (VA) <6/12 (20/40) in the better eye, the ability to converse in English, and being 18 years or older. Before the start of the study, the participants provided informed consent to their involvement in the project. The
Results
The characteristics of the 319 participants of which 202 were females (63%) are presented in Table 1. The mean age of the group was 78 years with almost two thirds of the participants born in Australia. The most common cause of vision loss was age related macular degeneration (AMD)(171 participants or 54%) followed by diabetic retinopathy (50 participants or 16%). Over 227 of the participants (90%) lived in a house or apartment with over 175 participants (55%) living with a spouse or a
Discussion
Understanding the factors that influence restriction of participation in daily living is challenging but important to those interested in increasing participation in activities of daily living and thus improving quality of life. Our baseline study of people with impaired vision showed that distance visual acuity, and mental and physical health were significant determinants of participation in daily activities grouped under five life domains. That these three determinants explain more than a
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