Understanding of how older adults with low vision obtain,process, and understand health information and servicesHyung Nam Kim, PhD
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Greensboro, NorthCarolina, USA
ABSTRACTIntroduction: Twenty-five years after the Americans with Disabilities Act,there has still been a lack of advancement of accessibility in healthcarefor people with visual impairments, particularly older adults with low vision.This study aims to advance understanding of how older adults with lowvision obtain, process, and use health information and services, and to seekopportunities of information technology to support them. Methods: A con-venience sample of 10 older adults with low vision participated in semi-structured phone interviews, which were audio-recorded and transcribedverbatim for analysis. Results: Participants shared various concerns in acces-sing, understanding, and using health information, care services, and multi-media technologies. Two main themes and nine subthemes emerged fromthe analysis. Discussion: Due to the concerns, older adults with low visiontended to fail to obtain the full range of all health information and servicesto meet their specific needs. Those with low vision still rely on residualvision such that multimedia-based information which can be useful, but itshould still be designed to ensure its accessibility, usability, andunderstandability.
KEYWORDSAccessibility; aging; assistivetechnologies; healthinformation; low vision
Introduction
In the United States, 21.2 million adults are visually impaired,1 and approximately 3% of individualsaged 6 years and over have difficulty seeing letters in ordinary newspaper print even if wearingglasses or cont
act lenses.2 Low vision is defined as the best-corrected visual acuity equal to or betterthan 20/400 and worse than 20/70 in the better seeing eye.3 Each year 75,000 more Americans areexpected to become visually impaired4; many of whom were born with intact vision but lost theirvision due to eye diseases or health conditions.5 As the population ages, it is anticipated that age-related eye diseases will dramatically increase the number of Americans with visual impairmentsover the next 30 years.4 In 2006, one of every six Americans older than 70 years was visuallyimpaired; his figure doubled among individuals 80 years or older compared with those in theseventies.6 Low vision is particularly prevalent among older adults7 with two-thirds of individualswith low vision being older than 65 years.8
Twenty-five years after the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), there has still been a lack ofadvancement in healthcare for people with visual impairments associated with healthcare facilities,equipment, health promotion, and disease prevention programs,9,10 leading to poor health outcomesand decreased quality of life.11 The latest report from the National Academies of SciencesEngineering and Medicine12 shared the concern that many public health agendas and communityprograms have paid little attention to visual impairments. When individuals with visual impairmentswere asked to describe their own health status,13 almost 95% reported at least one health problem,
CONTACT Hyung Nam Kim, PhD [email protected] North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Industrialand Systems Engineering, 1601 East Market Street, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA© 2017 Taylor & Francis
INFORMATICS FOR HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE2019, VOL. 44, NO. 1, 70–78londonessays.com