Abstract
Purpose:
There are various rehabilitation methods that aim to increase quality of life for children with low vision. These methods include low vision aids, exercise therapy and the use of optical aids such as CCTV. This systematic review aims at determining how effective varying low vision rehabilitation techniques are for improving quality of life for those that have low vision and are eighteen years old and under.
Methods:
An exhaustive systematic review was conducted on Medline, Embase, Cochrane, CINAHL, Biosis, Web of Knowledge, Scopus, PsycINFO, and ERIC to screen for relevant articles. A three stage screening and data abstraction process was performed by two independent reviewers. Based on the inclusion criteria, there were a total of 2854 articles that were screened but only 28 articles that were used for data extraction after the entire PRISMA flow process was conducted.
Results:
The most common study focus area was reading skills and methods included large print texts, magnifiers, CCTV’s and Braille. Magnifiers performed better than large print devices by two levels on basic reading inventory and both did better when visual training was first given to the child. CCTV’s can be cost-effective but have only been tried on small sample sizes. Other outcomes that showed positive results with small sample sizes included visual attention and visual perception.
Conclusions:
In this systematic review, reading ability was the most frequent outcome tested and did best with magnifiers after reading training had been instituted. However, most studies have been descriptive and with small sample sizes. Larger analytical studies including randomized studies will need to be done in order to assess both the needs and most appropriate interventions for this group of patients needing visual rehabilitation.
Keywords: 584 low vision •
460 clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: health care delivery/economics/manpower •
466 clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: treatment/prevention assessment/controlled clinical trials