Research
Refractive Error and Vision-Related Quality of Life in South Indian Children
The purpose of this study was to understand the vision-related quality of life (QoL) of schoolchildren with uncorrected refractive error (URE).
This study used a qualitative research design and homogeneous sampling method to select participants.
Children with URE expressed that their parents do not believe them when they complain about problems in eyesight.
The study found that parents were either anxious about the child’s vision problem or defensive for being ignorant about it.
A small number of children with mild, moderate visual impairment and unilateral refractive errors expressed that they had no difficulty in performing certain tasks.
Most children with URE have not experienced better clarity in vision and hence may be satisfied with their current vision, ignorant that they can see better.
The study also revealed that psychological issues like being embarrassed or teased by peers are experienced mostly by children after refractive correction.
The barriers to refractive correction that have been identified and elaborated by the study can be used to formulate target-specific and problem-specific remedial measures; for example, awareness campaigns for parents may concentrate specifically on the issues that the parents are unaware.