Department of Community Ophthalmology, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Department of Clinical Research, International Centre for Eye Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
Indian J Ophthalmol. 2019 Oct;67(10):1548-1554. doi: 10.4103/ijo.IJO_197_19.
People with visual disability need assistive technology to improve their body functioning and performance. The purpose of the present study was to understand the awareness, use and barriers in accessing the assistive technology among young patients attending visual rehabilitation clinic of a tertiary eye care hospital in Delhi.
A cross-sectional study was conducted on consecutively recruited patients registered for the first time in visual rehabilitation clinic of the community ophthalmology department of the tertiary eye centre during June and July 2018. A study tool consisting of 42 assistive technologies was developed. Patients were screened for distance visual acuity both presenting and binocular pinhole vision using an 'E' chart with two optotype (6/18, 6/60).
85 patients (69.4% male) were enrolled from the VR clinic. 83.5% of the patients had a best corrected binocular vision acuity <6/18 to 1/60. There was good awareness of only 2 of the 42 devices (>67% of the participants): near optical magnifiers, walking long canes. There was moderate awareness of 10 devices (34-66% of the participants) and poor awareness of the rest (<33%). Likewise, participants reported moderate usage of 3 out of the 42 devices and poor usage of the remaining devices. Non-availability of devices was the most frequently reported barrier in the study.
The awareness and utilization of assistive technologies for visual disability was poor in patients attending visual rehabilitation clinic. Hospitals could procure assistive technologies and introduce strategies to improve awareness as well as promote utilization.
视障人士需要辅助技术来改善身体机能和表现。本研究的目的是了解德里一家三级眼科医院视觉康复诊所年轻患者对辅助技术的认知、使用和获取障碍。
对 2018 年 6 月至 7 月期间在社区眼科部门的视觉康复诊所首次登记的连续招募的患者进行了横断面研究。开发了一个由 42 种辅助技术组成的研究工具。使用带有两种视标（6/18、6/60）的'E'字表对患者的远距视力和双眼针孔视力进行筛查。
从 VR 诊所共纳入 85 名患者（69.4%为男性）。83.5%的患者最佳矫正双眼视力<6/18 至 1/60。只有 2 种（>67%的参与者）设备有较好的认知度：近用光学放大镜、长柄导盲杖。10 种设备（34-66%的参与者）认知度中等，其余设备认知度较差（<33%）。同样，参与者报告对 42 种设备中的 3 种设备的使用频率适中，对其余设备的使用频率较差。设备不可用是研究中报告最多的障碍。
在视觉康复诊所就诊的视障患者对辅助技术的认知和使用程度较差。医院可以采购辅助技术，并采取措施提高认知度，促进使用。
