Barbora Hrušková, Rodičovství osob s těžkým zrakovým postižením Abstract (in English) The diploma thesis researches practical aspects of the parental role of persons with severe visual impairment. Its aim is to describe the experiences of visually impaired parents with preparing for the arrival of a child, with parental role and with childcare during a preschool age. At the same time it aims to chart the social services available to this group and to determine the extent to which they actually use these services, or whether they are missing some services. Due to differences in the availability of services in Prague and in smaller towns, the whole diploma thesis is focused on the territory of Prague. The theoretical part describes a person with severe visual impairment, including its specifics in different areas of life. It also deals with possible different aspects of parenting for people with visual disabilities. It provides a description of compensatory aids and explains their important role in the lives of visually impaired people. Next it acquaints readers with the possibilities of financial support for visually impaired parents primarily by the state. The conclusion of the theoretical part is devoted to listing and description of Prague organizations that provide some services for parents with severe...

Separation anxiety is highly prevalent among intellectually and visually impaired individuals, yet little research has been done into its treatment in this population. Due to delayed cognitive skills, these individuals struggle to develop the abstract concept of person permanence, which is necessary to diminish separation anxiety. The first aim of this study was to investigate whether using technology alone or including caregivers was the most beneficial approach to developing person permanence using technology-assisted therapy. The caregivers received training in advance in an attachment-based protocol about securing attachment relationships with the participant. It was hypothesised that the inclusion of attachment figures in technology-assisted therapy would enhance the acquisition of the person permanence concept. The second aim of this study was to determine whether technology-assisted therapy in tandem with the participation of caregivers consequently decreased separation anxiety and challenging behaviour in an adult with intellectual and visual impairment. It was hypothesised that the subject’s anxiety and challenging behaviour levels would significantly decrease due to the intervention. The final aim was to determine how the caregivers and the participant experienced this intervention. It was hypothesised that they would regard it as a positive experience. This single-subject design used a pre-experimental quantitative approach. It was based on the familiar ABAB design and comprised six phases. Phase A served as baseline, giving the participants time to become acquainted with the technology. Phase B consisted of automated responses to the participant’s messages. In phase C caregivers directed the active reply. The daily messages were discussed when the participant and caregiver reunited, incorporating the attachment-based protocol. Phase B and C were repeated. Phase D followed after the devices were handed in. The technology was a specially adapted touch iPhone with an application comprising coloured emoticons. When the participant was physically separated from the caregiver, he could send happy, sad, angry or scared emoticons, or request help. The caregiver, who had a similar device, responded by sending a pre-determined response such as acknowledging the participant’s “I am angry” message with a “You are angry” message. Due to the association between anxiety and challenging behaviour in this population, standardised instruments were used to measure changes in these behaviours. Repeated measure ANOVA and a non-parametric Friedman test were used to analyse the data, specifically comparing phase B and C. Overall, the results showed that behaviour did significantly change over the course of the intervention. The frequency of the various iPhone messages sent by the participant was recorded daily. ANOVA contracts results demonstrated significantly fewer anxious and angry messages sent during the C phases compared with the B phases. The professional caregivers recorded the frequency and intensity of anxiety and challenging behaviours. The ANOVA contrast results showed a significantly lower frequency and intensity of these behaviours in the C phases compared with the B phases. A questionnaire was developed to evaluate the social validity of the intervention. The independent samples t-test demonstrated a significant difference between the mean scores rated by the caregivers at the beginning and the end of the invention. The participant and caregivers were positive about the intervention. Although the results cannot be generalised, it can be concluded that the inclusion of caregivers in technology-assisted therapy can serve as an invaluable aid to developing the person permanence concept. The findings also indicate that the anxiety and challenging behaviour levels shown by the adult with ID and visual impairment decreased due to technology-assisted therapy applied by caregivers, while responses to the social validity of the intervention were positive. / MSc (Research Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Separation anxiety is highly prevalent among intellectually and visually impaired individuals, yet little research has been done into its treatment in this population. Due to delayed cognitive skills, these individuals struggle to develop the abstract concept of person permanence, which is necessary to diminish separation anxiety. The first aim of this study was to investigate whether using technology alone or including caregivers was the most beneficial approach to developing person permanence using technology-assisted therapy. The caregivers received training in advance in an attachment-based protocol about securing attachment relationships with the participant. It was hypothesised that the inclusion of attachment figures in technology-assisted therapy would enhance the acquisition of the person permanence concept. The second aim of this study was to determine whether technology-assisted therapy in tandem with the participation of caregivers consequently decreased separation anxiety and challenging behaviour in an adult with intellectual and visual impairment. It was hypothesised that the subject’s anxiety and challenging behaviour levels would significantly decrease due to the intervention. The final aim was to determine how the caregivers and the participant experienced this intervention. It was hypothesised that they would regard it as a positive experience. This single-subject design used a pre-experimental quantitative approach. It was based on the familiar ABAB design and comprised six phases. Phase A served as baseline, giving the participants time to become acquainted with the technology. Phase B consisted of automated responses to the participant’s messages. In phase C caregivers directed the active reply. The daily messages were discussed when the participant and caregiver reunited, incorporating the attachment-based protocol. Phase B and C were repeated. Phase D followed after the devices were handed in. The technology was a specially adapted touch iPhone with an application comprising coloured emoticons. When the participant was physically separated from the caregiver, he could send happy, sad, angry or scared emoticons, or request help. The caregiver, who had a similar device, responded by sending a pre-determined response such as acknowledging the participant’s “I am angry” message with a “You are angry” message. Due to the association between anxiety and challenging behaviour in this population, standardised instruments were used to measure changes in these behaviours. Repeated measure ANOVA and a non-parametric Friedman test were used to analyse the data, specifically comparing phase B and C. Overall, the results showed that behaviour did significantly change over the course of the intervention. The frequency of the various iPhone messages sent by the participant was recorded daily. ANOVA contracts results demonstrated significantly fewer anxious and angry messages sent during the C phases compared with the B phases. The professional caregivers recorded the frequency and intensity of anxiety and challenging behaviours. The ANOVA contrast results showed a significantly lower frequency and intensity of these behaviours in the C phases compared with the B phases. A questionnaire was developed to evaluate the social validity of the intervention. The independent samples t-test demonstrated a significant difference between the mean scores rated by the caregivers at the beginning and the end of the invention. The participant and caregivers were positive about the intervention. Although the results cannot be generalised, it can be concluded that the inclusion of caregivers in technology-assisted therapy can serve as an invaluable aid to developing the person permanence concept. The findings also indicate that the anxiety and challenging behaviour levels shown by the adult with ID and visual impairment decreased due to technology-assisted therapy applied by caregivers, while responses to the social validity of the intervention were positive. / MSc (Research Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Enligt “Teorin om planerat beteende” så finns det tre orsaker till beteendet. Denna teori handlar om vad som påverkar en persons förväntningar och beteende innan de ska utföra en uppgift på en webbplats. Tidigare forskning har visat att tillgängligheten på webbplatser fortfarande är bristfälliga för personer med synnedsättning, eftersom de har olika behov och det spelar en viktig roll hur webbplatserna är uppbyggda och anpassade för personer med synnedsättning. Det ska vara lätt för användaren att hitta, förstå och kunna ta del av informationen på webbplatsen. För att kunna anpassa en webbplats på bästa sätt för personer med synnedsättning, bör en designer ta hjälp av olika riktlinjer för att kunna designa webbplatsen mer tillgänglig med bra och användbar information för personer med synnedsättningar. Men dessa riklinjer hjälper inte alltid användare med svår synnedsättning, eftersom de är i behov av olika hjälpmedel. Forskningsområdet berör områdena universell design, tillgänglighet, användarupplevelse, tillgänglighet och förväntningar på webben. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka tillgängligheten för personer med synnedsättning på Linnéuniversitets webbplats och studera om webbplatsen är tillgänglig för dem, och studera om webbplatsen uppfyller deras förväntningar och upplevelse till att använda webbplatsen. Studien har studerat hur tillgängligheten påverkar användarupplevelsen för människor med synnedsättning på en webbplats och vilka förväntningar som användaren har på webbplatser. En empirisk studie genomfördes utifrån användartest med uppgifter och intervjuer på den befintliga webbplatsen med hjälp av personer med synnedsättning. I detta arbete har fullständig blindhet uteslutits, eftersom det är helt annan inriktning. Resultatet av intervjuerna sammanställdes och kategoriserades inom tillgänglighet, upplevelse och förväntningar av webbplatsen utifrån de mönster där testpersonerna hade angett liknande svar. Resultatet av sammanställningen av användartestet och intervjuerna på Linnéuniversitetets webbplats visade att testpersonerna anser att webbplatsen är tillgänglig för personer med synnedsättning och att deras förväntningar på webbplatsen uppfylldes. Resultatet visade att det som påverkar tillgängligheten på en webbplats är dåligt utformade med dåliga kontraster som till exempel ljus blått på vit bakgrund. På grund av dålig utformade webbplatser så kan inte personer med synnedsättning använda sina eventuella hjälpmedel, till exempel talsyntes, för att läsa upp innehållet på webbplatsen åt dem. Rörliga bilder, placering av objekt, otydliga menyer och rubriker, dåliga typsnitt eller att texten är för liten så att den blir svår att läsa. Det som personer med synnedsättning förväntar sig ska finnas på en tillgänglig webbplats: bra kontraster, bra typsnitt och tydliga rubriker. Bra placering av element så att det blir lätt att navigera sig, inga rörliga bilder, kunna lyssna på innehållet och att kunna använda sina eventuella hjälpmedel på webbplatsen. Genom detta får användaren en positiv upplevelse av webbplatsen. / According to “Theory of planned behavior", there are three reasons for the behavior. This theory is about what affect a person ́s expectations and behavior before they need to perform a task on a website. Previous research has shown that the availability of websites is still inadequate for people with visual impairment, because they have different needs and it plays an important role in how sites are built and adapted for people with visual impairment. It should be easy for users to find, understand and be able to take note of the information provided on the site. To be able to customize a site in the best way for people with visual impairment, a designer should take the help of various guidelines to design a website more accessible with useful information for people with visual impairment. But these guidelines don't always help users with severe visual impairment, because they are in need of different means. The research area relevant to the fields of universal design, accessibility, user experience, availability and expectations on the websites. The purpose of this study is to investigate the availability of people with visual impairment on Linnaeus University website and learn about how the site is available to them, and to study their expectations and experience of using the website. This study has studied how accessibility affects the user experience for people with visual impairment on a website and the expectations that the user has on websites. To be able to examine, I conducted an empirical study based on user tests with data and interviews on the existing site with the help of people with visual impairment. In this work I have excluded complete blindness, because it is quite a different focus. The results of the interviews were compiled and were categorised in availability, experience and expectations of the website based on the pattern in which subjects had stated similar answers. The result of the compilation of user test and interviews at Linnaeus University website showed that subjects think that the website is accessible to people with visual impairment, and that their expectations of the website were satisfied. The results showed that what affects the accessibility of a website is poorly designed interfaces with poor contrasts such as light blue on a white background. Because of badly designed websites, persons with visual impairment cannot use any assistive devices such as speech synthesizers to read out the contents of the site for them, pictures that moves, position of objects, obscure menus and headlines, bad fonts or that the text is to small, making it difficult to read. What person with visual impairment expects to find on an accessible website: good contrast, good fonts and clear titles. Good placement of the elements so that it will be easy to navigate, no pictures that moves, ability to listen to the content and to use any means at the site. Through this, the user receives a positive experience of the website.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the use of a constant time delay procedure to teach core content words in braille to a student with a visual impairment. A multiple probe (conditions) across behaviors design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the training and follow-up sessions. The results showed the procedure was effective in teaching core content braille words within a resource setting and the student was able to generalize the information to an inclusive setting.

The elderly population is estimated to increase worldwide. One of the major health determinants identified in this population are injuries where one of the most prevalent causes are falls. The overall aim of this thesis was to describe and explore visual impairment and falls of inpatients and independently living elderly in the community and how daily life activities were influenced by visual ability and risk of falling. Methods in the studies were a quantitative retrospective descriptive design for study I followed by two quantitative retrospective and explorative studies where in study II perceived vision related quality of life and in study III performance-based visual ability were investigated. Study IV was a qualitative explorative study using classic grounded theory. In study I all falls of inpatients at a medical clinic 65 years and older (n=68) were registered during one year. In study II and III a random sample (n=212) of independently living elderly between 70 and 85 years of age participated in both studies. In study IV seven women and six men between 73 and 85 years of age from the two previous studies and six visual instructors (n=19) participated. The data in study I was collected during 2004, study II and III between February 2009 to March 2010 and study IV December 2009 to January 2013. The results in study I showed that most falls in five hospital wards occurred at night and those most affected had an established visual impairment. Almost half the population in study II and III fell at least once. Perceived vision when performing daily life activities showed a positive association between visual impairment and falls in men but not in women (II). No associations were found between performance-based measured visual ability and falls (III). Visually impaired elderly did not consider risk of falling as a problem (􀀪􀀷). Their main concern is to remain themselves as who they used to be which is managed by self- preservation while maintaining their residual selves and resisting self decay. Maintaining residual self is done by living in the past mostly driven by inertia while resisting self decay is a proactive and purposeful driven strategy. It is a complex issue to do fall risk assessments and planning fall preventive action where the individual’s entire life situation has to be taken into consideration.

This thesis investigates design methods and phase models towards a reinterpretation of the design process towards a specific design task. The study reveals the essence of the process as a design process core, onto which may be built design process models to suit design tasks of diverse nature and scale.

O presente estudo teve como objetivo investigar o desempenho do salto em distância de atletas com deficiência visual em razão do tipo de comando de transição, da localização do atleta-guia e da localização em que o saltador se encontrava no momento do comando de transição. Participaram do estudo oito atletas, homens e mulheres adultos, saltadores de nível internacional, com deficiência visual \"classe 11\", e seus respectivos atletas-guia. Os atletas executaram saltos considerando a interação de duas condições: (1) o atleta-guia se comunicava de quatro locais distintos (à frente, atrás, ao lado direito e do lado esquerdo da tábua de impulsão); (2) o atleta-guia fornecia comandos de transição da corrida para a impulsão via voz ou palma. A distância do salto foi considerada como principal variável dependente. Os resultados mostraram que: (1) os comandos por palma e voz, as localizações do atleta-guia (à frente, atrás, do lado direito e do lado esquerdo da tábua de impulsão), e a localização em que o saltador se encontrava no momento do comando de transição afetaram semelhantemente o desempenho do salto em distância de atletas com deficiência visual; (2) os comandos fornecidos quando o saltador encontrava-se mais distante da tábua de impulsão foram aqueles com ele estava em menor velocidade; (3) nos últimos cinco metros os atletas aumentaram a amplitude das passadas e a velocidade em comparação com os dez metros anteriores; (4) as preferências dos saltadores e atletas-guia pelo tipo de comando de transição e local de posicionamento tiveram os mesmos efeitos / The aim of this study was to investigate the long jump performance by athletes with the visual impairment based on the type of transition command, jumper location, and athlete-guide. Participants were 8 athletes, men and women, international level jumpers, class 11 visual impairment, and their respective athletes-guide. The athletes performed jumps considering the interaction of two conditions: (1) athlete-guide communicated from four distinct locations (front, back, right side and left side of the board); (2) athlete-guide provided commands for transitioning from the running to impulsion phase by voice or palms. The distance of the jump was considered as the main dependent variable. The results showed that: (1) palm and voice commands, locations of the guide-athlete (front, back, right side and left side of the board), and the location where the jumper was at the time of the transition command similarly affected the performance of distance jumping of visually impaired athletes; (2) commands provided when the jumper was further from the impulsion board were those with his/her was at a slower speed; (3) in the last five meters athletes increased the steps amplitude and running speed in comparison with the previous ten meters; (4) preferences of jumpers and athletes-guide by the type of transition command and positioning location had the same effects

A literatura contemporânea é abundante a respeito da importância da família para o desenvolvimento de crianças e adolescentes. Considerando a relevância da relação entre pais e filhos no processo de desenvolvimento, este estudo objetivou identificar a relação existente entre as práticas educativas parentais na percepção dos pais e dos filhos, bem como relacionar as práticas educativas parentais a problemas de saúde mental apresentados pelas crianças. Participaram do estudo dois grupos, sendo o primeiro composto por 21 crianças de 7 a 12 anos, com deficiência visual, e seus pais. O segundo grupo composto também por 21 crianças sem deficiência e seus pais, sendo este pareado ao primeiro grupo com relação a sexo, idade, figuras parentais, número de irmãos e classificação econômica. Trata-se de um estudo de comparação entre grupos, de corte transversal e de abordagem quantitativa. Foi realizada uma entrevista inicial com os pais, com a finalidade de coletar os dados das crianças, tais como: idade, sexo, se havia deficiências e/ou comprometimentos na saúde; dados da família, envolvendo a composição familiar; e, por último, a classificação econômica da família. Foi aplicado, na versão para pais e criança, o Inventário de Percepção Parental (PPI) (HAZZARD; CHRISTENSEN; MARGOLIN, 1983), para mensurar o comportamento dos pais nas práticas educativas, tanto na percepção dos filhos quanto na percepção dos próprios pais. Buscando indicadores da saúde mental das crianças, foi aplicado, na versão para pais, o Questionário de Capacidades e Dificuldades (SDQ) (GOODMAN, 1997). Foram feitas análises descritivas e correlacionais entre as variáveis estudadas (práticas educativas e saúde mental) e comparação entre os dois grupos de participantes, por meio de testes não paramétricos: Teste U de MannWhitney, Teste Exato de Fisher e Teste de Correlação de Spearman. Como resultado das correlações das percepções dos pais, mães e filhos quanto às práticas educativas, em ambos os grupos, destacaram-se os acordos nas avaliações que as crianças fizeram de seus pais (mães e pais) com as avaliações que pais e mães fizeram de si mesmos. Comparando os dois grupos, foi possível observar que, nos escores totais, apenas as respostas dos pais apresentaram diferença estatisticamente significativa. Assim, os pais das crianças com deficiência visual avaliaram-se de forma mais positiva que os outros pais; na soma negativa, apenas as respostas das mães encontraram diferença estatisticamente significativa. Assim, as mães de crianças sem deficiência visual avaliaram-se utilizando mais práticas coercitivas na educação de seus filhos. Com relação à saúde mental, a avaliação que os pais de ambos os grupos fizeram de seus filhos não mostrou diferenças estatisticamente significativas. Por outro lado, verificou-se que pais e mães tenderam a ver seus filhos, sejam eles com ou sem deficiência visual, com mais dificuldades do que seria esperado encontrar, segundo o instrumento utilizado. Os resultados em ambos os grupos, de modo geral, apontaram para a correlação entre práticas educativas parentais e saúde mental dos filhos, no sentido que, quanto melhores foram as práticas educativas, melhor foi o resultado relativo à saúde mental da criança / Contemporary literature is abundant about the importance of the family for the development of children and adolescents. Considering the relevance of the relationship between parents and children in the development process, this study aimed to identify the relation between parental educational practices and the perception of parents and children, as well as to relate parental educational practices to problems of mental health in children. The study involved two sample groups: the first group was composed of 21 children aged 7 to 12 years with visual impairment and their parents. The second group, composed of 21 non-visually impaired children and their parents, was paired with the first group regarding gender, age, parental figures, number of siblings and economic classification. This is a comparative, cross-sectional group study with a quantitative approach. An initial interview was conducted with the parents to collect the children\'s data (such as age, sex, if there were disabilities and / or health commitments), family data (including family composition) and finally the economic classification. The Parental Perception Inventory (PPI) (HAZZARD; CHRISTENSEN; MARGOLIN, 1983) was applied to parents and children to measure the perception of both about the behavior of parents in educational practices. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) (Goodman, 1997) was applied to parents to seek mental health indicators for children. Descriptive and correlational analyses were carried out between the variables studied (educational practices and mental health) and the two groups of participants were compared by means of non-parametric tests: the Mann-Whitney U test, the Fisher\'s exact test and Spearman\'s rank correlation coefficient. As a result of the correlations of the perceptions of parents and children regarding educational practices, in both groups stands out the agreement in the evaluations that the children made of their parents and the evaluations that parents made of themselves. Comparing the scores of the two groups, it was observed that only the responses of the fathers presented a statistically significant difference: fathers of children with visual impairment were evaluated more positively than the others. In the negative sum, only the mothers\' responses had a statistically significant difference: mothers of children without visual impairment said they used more coercive practices in the education of their children. Regarding mental health, the evaluation that parents of both groups made of their children did not show statistically significant differences. On the other hand, according to the instrument used, it was possible to identify that parents tended to see their children with more difficulties than what would be expected, whether or not they had visual disabilities. In general, the results in both groups showed the correlation between educational practices of the parents and the mental health of the children, in the sense that, the better the educational practices were, the better the result of the child\'s mental health

Nos últimos anos o interesse por plataformas de compartilhamento de conteúdo multimídia na Web, como vídeos, tem crescido consideravelmente e atraindo usuários com diferentes perfis, incluindo pessoas com deficiência visual. Para tais usuários, diretrizes de acessibilidade e usabilidade devem ser aplicadas para que o acesso a estes conteúdos multimídias seja garantido. Apesar de iniciativas como a WCAG 2.0 (Web Content Acessibility Guidelines) definirem diretrizes sobre a acessibilidade para reprodutores de vídeos na Web, usuários com deficiência visual ainda encontram barreiras e dificuldades para acessar este tipo de conteúdo. Em muitos casos reprodutores de vídeo na Web não oferecem total suporte a acessibilidade, dificultando assim o acesso ao conteúdo por tal público, seja por meio de mouse ou de navegação por teclado via leitores de tela. Nesse sentindo, este trabalho teve como objetivo investigar se interações por meios de gestos fornecem melhoria nos níveis de acessibilidade durante o acesso a vídeos na Web realizado por usuários com deficiência visual, a fim de que as barreiras de interação fossem reduzidas ou eliminadas. Inicialmente estudou-se os diferentes tipos de sensores gestuais, bem como se estes sensores poderiam ser utilizados para atingir o objetivo proposto. A partir desses estudos, foi desenvolvido um framework para captura, representação e interpretação de gestos. Em seguida, foi desenvolvido uma aplicação Web, utilizando o framework desenvolvido para viabilizar possíveis testes com usuários. Finalmente, um estudo de caso com 38 usuários com deficiência visual foi conduzido, a fim de levantar indícios que ajudem a entender se a utilização de gestos como modo de interação entre pessoas com deficiência visual e reprodutores de vídeo oferece melhoria de acessibilidade. / Recently the interest in multimedia Web content sharing platforms, such as videos, has increased considerably attracting users with different profiles, including people with visual impairment. For such users, accessibility and usability guidelines should be applied for access guaranteed of these multimedia content. Although initiatives such as WCAG 2.0 (Web Content Acessibility Guidelines) set guidelines for video players, users with visual impairment still find barriers and difficulties to access this type of content. In many cases Web video players do not provide full accessibility support, making it difficult to access content by such a public, either through mouse or keyboard navigation by screen readers. This paper aims at investigating if gesture interactions provide improve improvement in accessibility levels during access to Web videos by visually impaired users, in order to reduce or eliminate the interactions barriers. We initially analyzed the different types of gesture sensors, as well as if these sensors could be used to achieve the proposed objective. Based on this analysis, we developed a framework for capture, representation and interpretation of gestures. Then, we developed a Web application, using the framework guidelines developed to enable users tests. Finally, we then run a study case with 38 users with visual impairment, in order to get evidence to help understand if the use of gestures as a mode of interaction between people with visual impairments and video players offers improved accessibility.