Impact of a sports and rehabilitation program on perception of quality of life in people with visual impairments

• Published in: Physiotherapy quarterly 2018, Vol.26 (4), p.17-22
• Main Authors: Roztorhui, Mariia, Perederiy, Alina, Briskin, Yuriy, Tovstonoh, Olexandr, Khimenes, Khrystyna, Melnyk, Valeryi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: adaptive sport; blind; Blindness; mental health; physical health; Quality of life; Rehabilitation; Sports training; Visual impairment
• ISSN: 2544-4395; 2544-4395
• DOI: 10.5114/pq.2018.79742

Introduction The aim of the research was to determine the influence degree of a sports and rehabilitation program on perception of quality of life among people with visual impairments. Methods Theoretical analysis, sociological methods (SF-36, 36-item Short Form Health Survey), pedagogical experiment, mathematical and statistical methods were applied. The research involved 34 people with visual impairments, who were divided into 3 groups, depending on the level of their visual impairment. Results It has been figured out that the perception of quality of life in people with visual impairments depends on the level of their vision loss. Among the blind, the perception is significantly lower (p < 0.05) than with moderate or severe visual impairment. A comparison of the evaluation results (with the SF-36 questionnaire) before and after the experiment allowed to determine the impact of the authors’ program on the perception of quality of life in people with visual impairment. Conclusions A sports and rehabilitation program for people with visual impairments has been created. The program stipulates the fulfilment of rehabilitation tasks as well as tasks of sports training. It preconditions intensive sports training in the future. The implementation of the sports and rehabilitation program has been proved effective (p < 0.05) for the perception of quality of life in people with visual impairments.