Psychosocial implications of blindness and low vision in students of a school for children with blindness.

Rizwan Ishtiaq

doi:10.12669/pjms.322.8737

Abstract

Objective:To find out the psychosocial implications of blindness and low vision in students of blind school Bahawalpur.Methods:A cross sectional descriptive study was carried out in Higher Secondary School for blind, Bahawalpur after getting approval from Institutional review board of Quaid-e-Azam Medical College, Bahawalpur and Principal of Blind School, Bahawalpur. Forty willing students filled a customized questionnaire, consisting of questions about logistic variables and questions regarding areas of satisfaction. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 18.Results:Out of 40, 55% (22/40) of them were found depressed (as assessed through DSM-lV), 50% (20/40) were having difficulty in making new contact but 52.5% (21/40) were satisfied with family care.Conclusion:Sixty percent (24/40) of blind school children experienced difficulty in their life. This study showed that blindness or low vision does have psychological implications like feeling of guilt, anxiety, sadness & depression.

Highlights

Any trauma or ailment leading to blindness causes a drastic change in the quality of life, more importantly, lifestyle and habits resulting in problems associated with psychological adjustments.11
A pre-designed custom made questionnaire was used for data collection, to determine the level of depression based on DSMIV Criteria for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD).[7]
Thirty one (77%) students belong to parents having annual income less than 40,000 and 9 (22%) students had parents with annual income more than 40,000. 35 (87.5%) students belong to rural areas and 5(12.5%) students were from urban area

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Any trauma or ailment leading to blindness causes a drastic change in the quality of life, more importantly, lifestyle and habits resulting in problems associated with psychological adjustments.[1]. Consistent attempts by sighted people to avoid any citation or references of vision and words of obvious affection and sympathies in their conversations causes people with blindness to avoid social contact, leading to a sense of social seclusion from the society.[3] People with blindness adapt to not using any facial expressions and bodily gestures and fail to develop the ability of using them in their day to day conversations. They are not able to sense the visual cues as to whose turn it is to speak.[4]. & identification of the principal for betterment of individual to maximum level of working capacity

METHODS

RESULTS

DISCUSSION