Psychological outcomes following interventions for people with low vision: a systematic review

Psychological distress and depression is common in people with vision loss and is associated with heightened disability. It is therefore important to determine if current low-vision rehabilitation services meet the psychological needs of people with vision impairment. The aim of this article is to describe and summarize current evidence on psychological outcomes following low-vision rehabilitation programs, as well as the impact of novel interventions designed specifically to address psychological outcomes. Several electronic databases were searched to identify studies assessing the impact of vision rehabilitation services on psychological outcomes and 35 reports from 30 studies were reviewed. Findings suggested that multidisciplinary low-vision rehabilitation services may improve aspects of psychological well-being such as vision-specific quality of life, but have limited impact on depressive symptoms. Specifically designed psychological group and individual programs based on cognitive-behavioral techniques have been shown to improve a range of psychological outcomes and may be able to prevent depressive symptoms in people with vision impairment. Further studies with sophisticated designs and well-validated outcome measures are required to understand the effectiveness, mechanisms, moderators and cost-effectiveness of existing and new low-vision rehabilitation programs on psychological well-being in people with low vision.