Adaptation to vision impairment was studied by telephone interviews with 78 legally blind adults (mean age 79.5) who had received rehabilitation services from an agency in upstate New York. Data were collected on demographics, health, activity levels, social support, blindness data, adaptation to vision loss (AVL scale, Horwitz and Reinhardt, 2005), and symptoms of Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS). Using multiple regression and logistic regression, the most significant predictors of high AVL scores were found to be good interpersonal communication and a relative living close by, while predictors of CBS were self-reported health issues, especially diabetes, and fewer trips into the community. Very few respondents reported receiving any information on CBS from eye care providers. This suggests that doctors should consider discussing CBS with patients, and that both social workers and doctors need a better understanding of CBS, as symptoms could easily be mistaken for mental illness, causing inappropriate referrals.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.100741 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Knight, Lelia. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Social Work (School of Social Work.) |
| Rights | © Lelia Knight, 2006 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002612204, proquestno: AAIMR32634, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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