Problem Solving Training and Low Vision Rehabilitation

Vision loss can result in feelings of frustration, helplessness, anxiety, depression, and
anger, which compromise a person's activities of everyday living. While emotional distress
may resolve in some persons without intervention, unmanaged and persistent distress places
the person at risk for continued decrements in health status and the potential development
of more severe conditions (i.e., depression, poor health outcomes). Persons with low vision
will be recruited and randomly assigned to either an innovative, problem-solving training
(PST) intervention group designed specifically for persons with low vision or a sham
intervention/control group. Primary and secondary outcomes will be assessed at baseline
prior to intervention and at 3 month follow-up, 7 month follow-up, 12 month follow-up, and
24 month follow-up by a research interviewer masked to participants' randomization. This
project will: (1) demonstrate how specified physical and emotional outcomes of persons with
low vision change across time, (2) evaluate the effectiveness of a PST intervention that
will be delivered to persons with low vision; and (3) identify persons with low vision who
are at risk for adverse emotional and health outcomes.