Visagie Lisa, Loxton Helene, Swartz Leslie, Stallard Paul
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Department for Health, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, United Kingdom.
Afr J Disabil. 2021 Jan 29;10:796. doi: 10.4102/ajod.v10i0.796. eCollection 2021.
Anxiety is the most common psychological difficulty reported by youth worldwide and may also be a significant problem for children with visual impairments. Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) interventions have proven to be successful in treating childhood anxiety; however, mostly these are not suitable for children with visual impairments, as the materials used are not sufficiently accessible to this population.
The present study was motivated by the dearth of research on this topic and aimed to examine the effects of a specifically tailored, group-based, universally delivered, CBT intervention for anxiety in children with visual impairments and to examine the influence of three predictor variables (i.e. age, gender and level of visual impairment) on prevention effects.
A randomised wait-list control group design with pre-, post- and follow-up intervention measures was employed. The final sample of 52 children (aged 9-14) with varying degrees of visual impairment received the anxiety intervention. Participants were followed over a course of 10 months during which their anxiety symptoms were assessed quantitatively at four time points (T1-T4).
The results indicated that the anxiety intervention did not significantly decrease symptoms of anxiety within the intervention groups. However, the intervention appeared beneficial for girls, younger children and legally blind participants.
This study demonstrated how CBT interventions can be adapted for use in children with visual impairments. Results obtained provide a foundation upon which future updated anxiety intervention programmes can be built, meeting the need for further research in this area.
焦虑是全球青少年报告的最常见心理问题，对于视力障碍儿童来说也可能是一个重大问题。认知行为疗法（CBT）干预已被证明在治疗儿童焦虑方面是成功的；然而，这些干预大多不适用于视力障碍儿童，因为所使用的材料该人群难以充分获取。
本研究受该主题研究匮乏的推动，旨在研究一种专门定制的、基于小组的、普遍实施的CBT干预对视力障碍儿童焦虑的影响，并研究三个预测变量（即年龄、性别和视力障碍程度）对预防效果的影响。
采用随机等待列表对照组设计，并进行干预前、干预后和随访测量。52名年龄在9至14岁之间、视力障碍程度不同的儿童最终样本接受了焦虑干预。在10个月的过程中对参与者进行随访，在此期间在四个时间点（T1 - T4）对他们的焦虑症状进行定量评估。
结果表明，干预组内焦虑干预并未显著减轻焦虑症状。然而，该干预对女孩、年幼儿童和法定失明参与者似乎有益。
本研究展示了如何使CBT干预适用于视力障碍儿童。所获得的结果为未来更新的焦虑干预计划奠定了基础，满足了该领域进一步研究的需求。
