Impact of a Vision Intervention on the Functional Status of Nursing Home Residents

Abstract

This study examined the outcomes associated with an intervention for residents of two nursing homes who had low vision and cognitive impairments that included diagnosis, optical correction, ensuring that the participants wore their eyeglasses, and staff training in recognizing vision problems. It found that a significantly decreased decline in function was associated with the provision of both eyeglasses and Croakies to the residents and staff training to recognize vision problems and provide reinforcement techniques, rather than only the provision of eyeglasses and Croakies.

Vision‐Enhancing Interventions in Nursing Home Residents and Their Short‐Term Effect on Physical and Cognitive Function

“…They also showed no significant differences with the delayed treatment group at follow-up indicating that the intervention also did not decrease the rate of decline in physical function as has been found in a previous study whose follow-up was later in time (6–8 months following intervention) as compared to the present study 32. Likewise, participants undergoing cataract surgery did not experience significant functional changes at follow-up as compared with their baseline scores or with the no-surgery control group.…”

“…Previous research has confirmed the benefits of vision enhancement interventions such as refractive error correction and cataract surgery for improving vision and quality of life in older adults,15, 29, 30 and recent work demonstrates that these benefits extend to the nursing home population 32, 34, 35. For our sample of older nursing home residents, we have previously shown that refractive error correction and cataract surgery not only improved vision but improved vision-targeted health-related quality of life (e.g., general vision, reading, social interaction) 34, 35.…”

“…By providing corrective lenses and Croakies to residents and providing staff training to recognize vision problems, Teresi and colleagues32 significantly decreased declines in observed tasks of physical function and mobility at follow-up (6–8 months later). This study did not investigate changes in cognition over the course of the study.…”

Health-related quality of life and visual and cognitive impairment among nursing-home residents

“…This is an important finding because while ageing-related cognitive impairments are largely irreversible, many visual impairments are remediable through refractive error correction and cataract surgery 10 12. This is clinically practical, because in addition to cognitively intact individuals, older adults with cognitive impairment can also benefit from these eye-care interventions 26. Additionally, improved vision among nursing-home residents of varying levels of cognitive status has led to improvements in HRQoL 10.…”

Association Between the Nursing Home Minimum Data Set for Vision and Vision-Targeted Health-Related Quality of Life in Nursing Home Residents as Assessed by Certified Nursing Assistants

“…These residents are 3 to 30 times more likely to have vision impairment than community dwelling older adults 3-5. It has been demonstrated that refractive error correction and cataract surgery can improve visual function and vision-related quality of life, slow functional decline and reduce depressive symptoms among nursing home residents 6-8. However, the number of nursing home residents receiving eye examination is low, despite the high prevalence of vision impairment in this group and the existence of interventions proven to be effective in correcting vision impairment.…”