Abstract
Purpose :
To identify and characterize patient-important vision-related activities and aspects of functioning under visually challenging conditions, i.e. low contrast and/or low luminance, in age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Methods :
Patients with early, intermediate and late AMD underwent individual unstructured interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) with a trained interviewer using an interview guideline. Transcripts were examined using an inductive analytical approach. This is an iterative process, which involves broadly coding data into themes and subsequently continually revising these themes as further transcripts are analyzed. Data were analyzed qualitatively with the aid of NVivo (version 11, QSR International, MA, USA).
Results :
Nineteen AMD patients underwent individual interviews and 10 patients FGDs (n=5 each). Emerging themes were related to difficulties with reading, accessing information and recognizing people in everyday situations under low contrast and/or low lighting levels (i.e. newspaper, price tags in shops, advertisements with colorful backgrounds, encounters outside in the dark). Activities related to mobility at dusk or at night including driving as well as safety whilst engaging in mobility related activities at dusk or at night were also frequently mentioned. Themes around socio-emotional distress related to perceptions of losing independence, worsening vision in the future and its impact on lifestyle also featured strongly in the interviews and FGDs.
Conclusions :
AMD patients report difficulty with vision-related activities and functioning under visually challenging conditions at all stages of the disease. These include reading, social interaction/recognizing people, mobility/safety and the socio-emotional impact of these difficulties. These aspects should be considered when developing an instrument to capture patient-reported difficulty with vision-related activities and functioning under visually challenging conditions for AMD.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.