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<DIV><SPAN class=879043919-08082013><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial>What
exactly was the service? Was it just counseling? Without training to live as a
blind person, how do they expect the quality of life to
improve?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=879043919-08082013><FONT color=#0000ff size=2
face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=879043919-08082013><FONT color=#0000ff size=2
face=Arial>Cindy</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV lang=en-us class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT size=2
face=Tahoma>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Nfbk
[mailto:nfbk-bounces@nfbnet.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Kevin
Pearl<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, August 08, 2013 11:22 AM<BR><B>To:</B>
NFBK<BR><B>Subject:</B> [Nfbk] Visual Quality of Life???<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
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<H2><FONT face="Times New Roman">Study: Emotional support groups boost visual
quality of life.</FONT></H2>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">A facilitated peer group emotional support
service significantly improved visual quality of life for those with vision
impairment, a study found.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">The study, recently published in <I>Optometry
& Vision Science, </I>included 29 individuals with vision impairments that
affected quality of life, split into groups of up to six that were facilitated
by trained counselors. The VCM1 (Vision Quality of Life Core Measure)
instrument was administered to participants at start of service, end of
service and 6 months after completion.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">For the group as a whole, visual quality of
life significantly improved between the beginning of the service and the end,
but was no better than at the start 6 months later. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">However, those with poorer initial visual
quality of life showed significantly greater improvements after 6 months than
those with higher initial visual quality of life (<I>P</I> = .008). The items
cited as becoming and remaining easier were "feeling lonely or isolated due to
eyesight," "feeling sad or low due to eyesight" and "feeling worried about
general safety outside the home."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Different interventions may be needed for
those with initially good visual quality of life and to improve other aspects
of quality of life not influenced by the service, the author, Kezia Latham,
said in the study.</FONT></P>
<P><A
href="http://www.healio.com/optometry/primary-care-optometry/news/online/%7B78378689-AEC5-4DD1-9FE0-311193DC84DB%7D/Study-Emotional-support-groups-boost-visual-quality-of-life">LINK
TO THE ARTICLE</A></P></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>