title: Perceptions of Older People Regarding Their Vision and Incident Causation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It is widely known that visual impairment (VI) is a risk factor for falls, but patients or their eye care practitioners may not recognize other kinds of incidents as being problematic because of their vision. Consequently, older people with VI may have unmet needs for advice on how to carry out activities of daily living safely. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand whether older people with VI consider their vision as a causative factor of incidents they experience and their perceptions regarding the prevention of future incidents. If sample size permitted, a secondary aim was to evaluate whether quantitative findings supported their perceptions.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study design was a prospective cohort study evaluating injurious and damaging incidents and related near misses using open questions in a written 2-weekly large-print diary with active follow-up over 8 weeks in older people (>60 years, n = 80) with and without VI. Baseline measures included habitual binocular visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, visual fields, 3-m walk test, and Short Form 12 physical and mental component scores. Participants' diary entries were coded. Factor analysis and binary logistic analysis were used to investigate whether baseline measures were predictive of incident occurrence. Risk and preventative factors identified were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants perceived that their vision was implicated in bump and fall incidents. Quantitative analysis indicated that contrast sensitivity and fitness were significant predictors of incident occurrence. Six vision-related and five non-vision-related causative factors were identified by participants as contributing factors. Participants frequently stated "don't know" when asked to identify solutions to prevent incident recurrence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Participants had unmet needs for advice in relation to incident prevention. It would be prudent for eye care practitioners to raise incident prevention in eye care consultations regardless of voiced patient concerns.
authors.affiliation: *PhD, BOptom(Hons), FAAO †PhD, MOptom, FAAO ‡BOptom §MOptom ∥BOptom, BSc ¶PhDArch, MCogSci School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (MYB, BSC, P-CL, T-JC, NA, WA, JL, WY); School of Optometry and Vision Science, Catholic University of Daegu, Gyeongsan, South Korea (BSC); and Faculty of the Built Environment, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (CB).
authors.forename: Mei Ying
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Boon
authors.forename: Byoung Sun
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Pei-Chu
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Te-Ju
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Chiang
authors.forename: Nasser
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alshamli
authors.forename: Waleed
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Alghamdi
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yeung
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bridge
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls; D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D015354:Vision, Low / Q000523:psychology*; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology; D019987:Persons with Visual Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*