title: Visual impairment, coping strategies and impact on daily life: a qualitative study among working-age UK ex-service personnel.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sustaining a visual impairment may have a substantial impact on various life domains such as work, interpersonal relations, mobility and social and mental well-being. How to adjust to the loss of vision and its consequences might be a challenge for the visually impaired person. The purpose of the current study was to explore how younger male ex-Service personnel cope with becoming visually impaired and how this affects their daily life.
  
  
  METHODS
  Semi-structured interviews with 30 visually impaired male ex-Service personnel, all under the age of 55, were conducted. All participants are members of the charity organisation Blind Veterans UK. Interviews were analysed thematically.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Younger ex-Service personnel applied a number of different strategies to overcome their loss of vision and its associated consequences. Coping strategies varied from learning new skills, goal setting, integrating the use of low vision aids in their daily routine, to social withdrawal and substance misuse. Vision loss affected on all aspects of daily life and ex-Service personnel experienced an on-going struggle to accept and adjust to becoming visually impaired.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Health care professionals, family and friends of the person with the visual impairment need to be aware that coping with a visual impairment is a continuous struggle; even after a considerable amount of time has passed, needs for emotional, social, practical and physical support may still be present.
authors.affiliation: King's Centre for Military Health Research, King's College London, Weston Education Centre, 10 Cutcombe Road, SE5 9RJ, London, United Kingdom. sharon.stevelink@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sharon A M
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Stevelink
authors.affiliation: King's Centre for Military Health Research, King's College London, Weston Education Centre, 10 Cutcombe Road, SE5 9RJ, London, United Kingdom. estelle1uk@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Estelle M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Malcolm
authors.affiliation: King's Centre for Military Health Research, King's College London, Weston Education Centre, 10 Cutcombe Road, SE5 9RJ, London, United Kingdom. nicola.t.fear@kcl.ac.uk.|Academic Department of Military Mental Health, King's College London, Weston Education Centre, 10 Cutcombe Road, SE5 9RJ, London, United Kingdom. nicola.t.fear@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Nicola T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Fear
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D008887:Military Medicine; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D006113:United Kingdom; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D019987:Persons with Visual Disabilities / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data