TY - JOUR
T1 - How effective is low vision service provision? A systematic review
AU - Binns, Alison M.
AU - Bunce, Catey
AU - Dickinson, Chris
AU - Harper, Robert
AU - Tudor-Edwards, Rhiannon
AU - Woodhouse, Margaret
AU - Linck, Pat
AU - Suttie, Alan
AU - Jackson, Jonathan
AU - Lindsay, Jennifer
AU - Wolffsohn, James
AU - Hughes, Lindsey
AU - Margrain, Tom H.
N1 - Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PY - 2012/1/2
Y1 - 2012/1/2
N2 - Visual impairment is a large and growing socioeconomic problem. Good evidence on rehabilitation outcomes is required to guide service development and improve the lives of people with sight loss. Of the 478 potentially relevant articles identified, only 58 studies met our liberal inclusion criteria, and of these only 7 were randomized controlled trials. Although the literature is sufficient to confirm that rehabilitation services result in improved clinical and functional ability outcomes, the effects on mood, vision-related quality of life (QoL) and health-related QoL are less clear. There are some good data on the performance of particular types of intervention, but almost no useful data about outcomes in children, those of working age, and other groups. There were no reports on cost effectiveness. Overall, the number of well-designed and adequately reported studies is pitifully small; visual rehabilitation research needs higher quality research. We highlight study design and reporting considerations and suggest a future research agenda.
AB - Visual impairment is a large and growing socioeconomic problem. Good evidence on rehabilitation outcomes is required to guide service development and improve the lives of people with sight loss. Of the 478 potentially relevant articles identified, only 58 studies met our liberal inclusion criteria, and of these only 7 were randomized controlled trials. Although the literature is sufficient to confirm that rehabilitation services result in improved clinical and functional ability outcomes, the effects on mood, vision-related quality of life (QoL) and health-related QoL are less clear. There are some good data on the performance of particular types of intervention, but almost no useful data about outcomes in children, those of working age, and other groups. There were no reports on cost effectiveness. Overall, the number of well-designed and adequately reported studies is pitifully small; visual rehabilitation research needs higher quality research. We highlight study design and reporting considerations and suggest a future research agenda.
KW - activities of daily living
KW - cost-benefit analysis
KW - disability evaluation
KW - health services
KW - health status indicators
KW - humans
KW - quality of life
KW - treatment outcome
KW - low vision
KW - visually impaired persons
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=82955212822&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.survophthal.2011.06.006
DO - 10.1016/j.survophthal.2011.06.006
M3 - Review article
C2 - 22018676
SN - 0039-6257
VL - 57
SP - 34
EP - 65
JO - Survey of ophthalmology
JF - Survey of ophthalmology
IS - 1
ER -