Effects of a Physical Therapy Intervention to Improve the Quality of Life of Visually Impaired People: Development of an Audio

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to develop and implement an audio–tactile protocol for therapeutic intervention in individuals with visual impairments. Methods: The Physiotherapy Protocol for People with Visual Impairment (PP-PVI) was developed following five steps: physiotherapy evaluation, linguistic selection, protocol design, linguistic adequation for visually impaired, and linguistic adequation for English language. Three adolescents and three young adults with visual impairments participated in this longitudinal study and performed the protocol of therapeutic exercises twice a week for 12 months while being evaluated with respect to their quality of life before and after. The quality of life was evaluated using the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Results: The median score for all domains of the quality of life questionnaire improved after PP-PVI, with the exception of the body pain domain, which remained unchanged. Discussion: The PP-PVI was shown to be an important method of therapeutic intervention, and it was easy to understand and apply in persons with visual impairments. Implications for practitioners: The exercises of the PP-PVI facilitate the development of several physical and functional capabilities that are important to the independence of individuals with visual impairments.

Keywords

visual impairment physical therapy modalities quality of life sedentary lifestyle

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alary

Duquette

Goldstein

Elaine Chapman

Voss

La Buissonnière-Ariza

Lepore

(2009). Tactile acuity in the blind: A closer look reveals superiority over the sighted in some but not all cutaneous tasks. Neuropsychologia, 47, 2037-2043. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.03.014

(2012). The effect of gender and level of vision on the physical activity level of children and adolescents with visual impairment. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 33(6), 1799-1804. doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2012.05.005

Becker

Montilha

R. d. C.

(2015). Ocupational performance and quality of life: interrelationships in daily life of visual impaired individuals. Revista Brasileira de Oftalmologia, 74(6), 372-377. doi:10.5935/0034-7280.20150078

(2017). Magnitude, temporal trends, and projections of the global prevalence of blindness and distance and near vision impairment: A systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Global Health, 5(9), e888-e897. doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(17)30293-0

(2020). The effects of ecologically valid intervention strategies on the locomotor skills of childrenwith visual impairments. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 27, 1-8. doi:10.1123/apaq.2019-0019

(2019). Correlates of physical activity among children with visual impairments. Disability and Health Journal, 12(2), 328-333. doi:10.1016/j.dhjo.2018.10.007

(2003). Sugestões para o uso do mini-exame do estado mental no Brasil. Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, 61(3-B), 777-781.

(2010). Physical activity measurement among individuals with disabilities: A literature review. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 27(3), 173-190. doi:10.1123/apaq.27.3.173

(2014). Associations between objectively-measured sedentary behaviour and physical activity with bone mineral density in adults and older adults, the NHANES study. Bone, 64, 254-262. doi:10.1016/j.bone.2014.04.009

(1999). Tradução para a língua portuguesa e validação do questionário genérico de avaliação de qualidade de vida SF-36 (Brasil SF-36). Revista Brasileira De Reumatologia, 39, 143-150.

(2017). Impact of visual impairment on the lives of young adults in the Netherlands: A concept-mapping approach. Disability and Rehabilitation, 39(26), 2607-2618. doi:10.1080/09638288.2016.1236408

(2009). The balance evaluation systems test (BESTest) to differentiate balance deficits. Physical Therapy, 89(5), 484-498. doi:10.2522/ptj.20080071

(2019). Tactile teaching methods support students with visual impairment in training for a career in chiropractic. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 113(6), 557-565. doi:10.1177/0145482X19888323

(2019). Avaliação do equilíbrio, postura e qualidade de vida de deficientes visuais. Arquivos de Ciências do Esporte, 7(1), 41-45. doi:10.17648/aces.v7n1.3498

(2015). Effects of aquatic therapy on visual impairment: A case study. Revista Neurociências, 23(01), 136-142. doi:10.4181/RNC.2015.23.01.978.7p

(2019). As condições de saúde ocular no Brasil. São Paulo: CBO. Available at: http://www.cbo.com.br/novo/publicacoes/condicoes_saude_ocular_brasil2019.pdf

17.

Parreira

R. B.

Grecco

L. A. C.

Oliveira

C. S.

(2017). Postural control in blind individuals: A systematic review. Gait & Posture, 57, 161-167. doi:10.1016/j.gaitpost.2017.06.008

(2016). Comprehending the impact of low vision on the lives of children and adolescents: A qualitative approach. Quality of Life Research, 25(10), 2633-2643. doi:10.1007/s11136-016-1292-8

Kaźmierska-Kowalewska

Koc

(2015). Balance functional assessment in people with visual impairment. Journal of Human Kinetics, 48, 99-109. doi:10.1515/hukin-2015-0096

(2019). Vision impairment and subjective cognitive decline-related functional limitations-United States, 2015-2017. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 68(20), 453-457. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6820a2

. (2011). Avaliação das alterações posturais e retrações musculares na deficiência visual: estudo de caso. Saúde Coletiva, 8(49), 77-82.

(2016). Sedentary behavior in adults with visual impairments. Disability and Health Journal, 9(4), 609-615. doi:10.1016/j.dhjo.2016.05.005

23.

Urquizo

W. E. C.

(2018). Efeitos de um protocolo adaptado de pilates em deficientes visuais. (Master dissertation, Federal University of Triangulo Mineiro). http://bdtd.uftm.edu.br/handle/tede/588

24.

van Leeuwen

L. M.

Rainey

Kef

van Rens

G. H. M. B.

van Nispen

R. M. A.

(2015). Investigating rehabilitation needs of visually impaired young adults according to the international classification of functioning, disability and health. Acta Ophthalmologica, 93(7), 642-650. doi:10.1111/aos.12782

25.

World Health Organization. (2019). ICD-10: International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems: 10th revision. World Health Organization. https://icd.who.int/browse10/2019/en

Effects of a Physical Therapy Intervention to Improve the Quality of Life of Visually Impaired People: Development of an Audio–Tactile Exercise Protocol

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References