Ocupational performance and quality of life: interrelationships in daily life of visual impaired individuals

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective: Identify levels of self-perception of occupational performance and quality of life of individuals with visual impairment and subsequent analysis of the interrelationship between the indices found. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional survey with people with visual disabilities enrolled in visual rehabilitation program. COPM was applied to measure the self-perception of occupational performance, the SF-36 for quality of life measurement and a socio-demographic questionnaire to describe personal characteristics. Results. Twentythree subjects were included in the sample: 74% with low vision, 52.2% were female and mean age of 46.7 years. The self-perception of performance and emotional aspects domains of participants with low vision were better than those with blindness. The greater the time of visual impairment, worse was the self-perception of pain. The vitality domain showed statistical significant relationship with the domains general health, performance and satisfaction as well as the mental health domain were related to general health, pain, performance and vitality. Conclusion: The best were the mental health index, the better were the evaluations of physical, functional and social areas, a fact that indicates the importance of considering mental health in visual rehabilitation programs. The COPM and the SF-36 address the issue of functionality in different ways and their results are not compatible.

Keywords

• Pessoas com deficiência visual
• Análise e desempenho de tarefas
• Terapia ocupacional
• Qualidade de vida