scholarly journals Mental health how (re)constitutive tool in ways of living of visually impaired persons

10.3823/2596 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Érico Gurgel Amorim ◽  
Jacileide Guimarães ◽  
Olivia Morais de Medeiros Neta ◽  
Ingrid Gurgel Amorim ◽  
Rafael Otávio Bezerra de Morais

Objective: to analyze mental health in the face of visual impairment, identifying the stages of psychological distress in the encounter with the not seeing. Method: This is an exploratory study with a qualitative approach. Fifteen adults with visual impairment attended at a specialized ophthalmology ambulatory in a university hospital in the city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil were studied, from June to August 2015, through a semistructured interview. The speeches were analyzed based on the theory of mourning. Results: the results showed that the mental health of the visually impaired person is structured through a normative apparatus constituted of individual and social attributes dynamically constructed. These attributes are related to the constitution of stages of mourning, characterized by shock, denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The mental health of the visually impaired person contemplates the phases of normal mourning, established before the condition of visual loss, as structuring mode in a process of personal reconstruction, reflected in the ways of walking the life, proper from each one. Conclusion: With this study, it was possible to understand the ways of constitution and reconstitution of people in dealing with a new condition, the one of visual impairment, providing caregivers, family, and society with an ethical spirit and solidarity, more compliant and humane in the to deal with people with disabilities.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-10
Author(s):  
Ingmar BEŠIĆ ◽  
◽  
Zikrija AVDAGIĆ AVDAGIĆ ◽  
Kerim HODŽIĆ

Visual impairments often pose serious restrictions on a visually impaired person and there is a considerable number of persons, especially among aging population, which depend on assistive technology to sustain their quality of life. Development and testing of assistive technology for visually impaired requires gathering information and conducting studies on both healthy and visually impaired individuals in a controlled environment. We propose test setup for visually impaired persons by creating RFID based assistive environment – Visual Impairment Friendly RFID Room. The test setup can be used to evaluate RFID object localization and its use by visually impaired persons. To certain extent every impairment has individual characteristics as different individuals may better respond to different subsets of visual information. We use virtual reality prototype to both simulate visual impairment and map full visual information to the subset that visually impaired person can perceive. Time-domain color mapping real-time image processing is used to evaluate the virtual reality prototype targeting color vision deficiency.


1986 ◽  
Vol 80 (6) ◽  
pp. 794-798
Author(s):  
Rona L. Harrell ◽  
Felice A. Strauss

Many visually impaired individuals are found to be too passive or too aggressive in their social interactions. Lack of assertive behavior is related to the concept of learned helplessness. Components of assertive behavior are described with suggestions for enabling the visually impaired person to develop these skills. The underlying concepts of assertion training are explained along with specific techniques to be utilized in the school or rehabilitative setting. With a structured intervention resulting in improved assertiveness skills, blind or partially sighted individuals can increase their effectiveness in communicating with others and can feel more in control of their lives.


1971 ◽  
Vol 65 (10) ◽  
pp. 334-336
Author(s):  
Benjamin Wolf

□ Visual impairment is not necessarily blindness and the requirements of visually impaired persons are in many ways significantly different from those of blind persons. All too often agencies for the blind have not distinguished between these different requirements in providing services. The essential difference is that blind persons must rely on their other senses in order to function, while partially sighted persons must be helped to use whatever vision they have in coordination with their other senses. In providing services to partially sighted persons, the following basic principles should be considered: 1) Full service requires the cooperation of medical, physical, and behavioral specialists; 2) Services for partially sighted clients should be individualized on the basis of their differences in degree and quality of sight; 3) Whatever vision the client has should be augmented or strengthened through either mechanical or physical means; and 4) Clients should be helped to enhance their perception to its maximum functional potential.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hana Porkertová

This article thematizes relations between visual impairment and urban space, drawing from the analytical perspective of actor-network theory (ANT). It traces the ways in which visually impaired people create specific connections with space and how they transform it. Urban space is configured for use by able-bodied persons, for whom movement within it is easy and seems to be disembodied. However, for those who defy the standardization of space, the materiality of movement is constantly present and visible, because the passages are difficult to make and are not ready in advance. These materialities, as well as the strategies that people use to make connections with urban space, differ according to the assemblages that visually impaired people create. A route is different with a cane, a human companion, a guide dog, or the use of a combination of such assistance; the visually impaired person pays attention to different clues, follows specific lines, and other information is important and available. Each configuration makes it possible or impossible to do something; this shows disability as dynamic, and demonstrates the collective nature of action, which is more visible and palpable in the case of a disabled person.


Author(s):  
Jan Balata ◽  
Zdenek Mikovec ◽  
Pavel Slavik ◽  
Miroslav Macik

This chapter shows how elements of gamification, i.e. game thinking and game mechanics, can be integrated into a collaborative navigation system for visually impaired persons in order encourage them to travel independently and thus improve their quality of life and self-confidence. The system supports independent navigation in unknown places by mediating help from another visually impaired person, who is familiar with the particular place. Our system utilizes a thermal user interface to introduce an additional communication channel and thus to increase the usability of the system. The system has been successfully enhanced by game elements and illustrates the potential of introducing game elements into these systems.


1982 ◽  
Vol 76 (5) ◽  
pp. 172-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Adrian ◽  
Laurence R. Miller ◽  
William R. De L'aune

The California Psychological Inventory and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory were administered to 128 women and men, aged 18-55, who were totally blind or partially sighted from birth, infancy, or early childhood, who had no other neurological, perceptual, or sensory-motor difficulties in addition to blindness, and had completed the eighth grade. The significant findings relate to the differences between the sample and sighted reference groups. Although both inventories seem to be highly sensitive to the adjustment patterns of early visually impaired persons, the findings clearly indicate that individual personality test results can be interpreted only when norms are appropriate and based on a representative group of visually impaired persons. Variant CPI and MMPI scale scores may not necessarily reflect psychopathology, but rather may be indicative of the unique adaptive processes of persons who experienced early visual impairment. Since the total experience of congenital or early visual impairment is not easily understood, normative data must be developed so meaningful and relevant comparisons can be made among persons who have shared common developmental experiences.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Gabriel De Almeida Ferreira ◽  
Marcelo Abrão Rezende ◽  
Roberta Lilian Fernandes de Sousa Meneghim ◽  
Silvana Artioli Schellini

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of mobile ophthalmic unit screenings and to investigate barriers between community care and resolution of the problem at a tertiary center. METHODS: This prospective study evaluated a convenience sample from 10 municipalities in São Paulo State, Brazil. Patients were assessed in the municipality by a mobile ophthalmic unit and underwent a complete ophthalmic consultation. Patients were referred as warranted to a tertiary hospital. RESULTS: The mobile ophthalmic unit screened 1,928 individuals and 714 (37%) were referred. The mean age of the referred patients was 57.12 (SD = 19.5) years with best corrected visual acuity of 0.37 (SD = 0.36) logMAR. Forty-seven (6.6%) patients were blind and 185 (26.5%) were visually impaired. Cataracts (44.7%) and pterygium (14.7%) accounted for most referrals. Of those referred, 67.1% presented to the tertiary center. The diagnosis by the mobile ophthalmic unit corresponded to the one by the tertiary center in 88.5% of the cases. There were a significantly higher number of blind and visually impaired persons among those who presented to the hospital. There was a significantly greater attendance among patients living in more distant municipalities from the reference center with a higher number of inhabitants and a greater number of ophthalmologists in the cities of origin (p < 0.05, all comparisons). Complete treatment was performed in 65.6% of patients, and loss to follow-up was the main cause of incomplete treatment in 50.7% of patients. A total of 313 cataract surgeries were performed, which reduced the number of blind patients from 20 to 2 and of visually impaired individuals from 87 to 2 (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Only 37% of the patients assessed by a mobile ophthalmic unit required referral to a tertiary hospital. Among the referred patients, 67.1% presented to the hospital, and complete resolution after treatment was approximately 65.5%. There was a significant improvement in visual acuity and a reduction in the prevalence of blindness and visual impairment postoperatively.


1989 ◽  
Vol 83 (5) ◽  
pp. 241-244
Author(s):  
E. Jeppsson-Grassman

This article presents a research program which examined the employment conditions of Swedish visually impaired persons, aged 25–45 at the onset of their visual impairment, who were employed at that time. A conceptual framework, through which the adaptive process necessary for the visually impaired individual to make, is addressed. The return to work did not necessarily mean that the person had been truly rehabilitated, since many of these workers were underemployed. Major qualitative changes of job characteristics also impacted dramatically on the workers.


2022 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Bassani Dal’Bosco ◽  
Lara Simone Messias Floriano ◽  
Amanda Gabrieli Schuber Spósito Rangel ◽  
Mirian Cristina Ribas ◽  
Ana Paula Garbuio Cavalheiro ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Objectives: to analyze the coping of individuals in social isolation due to suspicion or confirmation of coronavirus infection from the perspective of Hildegard Peplau’s Theory of Interpersonal Relations. Methods: this is a qualitative, descriptive research, carried out with 34 individuals in social isolation due to suspicion or confirmation of coronavirus infection who passed through a screening tent of a university hospital in Paraná. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews in June and July 2020. Empirical categories were interpreted by content analysis. Results: four categories emerged: Distance; Social and emotional support; Self-awareness and resolution; Learning. These categories established the coping strategies. Conclusions: individuals undergoing social isolation are more likely to present problems related to mental health. It was highlighted that coping strategies, motivated by nurses, anchored in Hildegard Peplau’s theoretical framework, promoted the necessary learning for promoting participants’ mental health in the face of a pandemic context.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-53
Author(s):  
Marta Ljubisavljević ◽  
Slavoljub Živanović

Introduction: Penicillin and penicillin products are in use in everyday medical practice. The most frequently reported adverse drug reactions are those to penicillin. New penicillin allergies occur more often with parenteral than oral treatment. In patients who are allergic to penicillin, prescribed therapy is more often the one of antibiotics of broad spectrum, and this therapy is more expensive. The allergies to penicillin are immunologically mediated. Scope of Study: to present patients' self-reported allergy to penicillin and report on types of adverse reactions following the parenteral administration of penicillin. Methodology: Retrospective study of the work of one physician in the City Institute for EMS Belgrade in the period from 2017 to 2018 involving 2481 patients. Results: There were 242 patients who reported they were allergic to penicillin, of which 160 were able to explain what happened after they were given parenteral penicillin. The cohort group was between 18-85 years old, average age 49.64 ± 17.24, while 65% of them were females. Most frequently reported adverse reactions were rash, redness and itching of the skin, loss of consciousness, swelling of the face, mouth, arms or body in general. Serious reactions have been reported in about 40% of cases. Conclusion: There is a large percentage of self-reported allergies to penicillin, and only a small number of those who experienced serious adverse reactions: swelling, unconsciousness, coma or shock.


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