Girls’ Adjustment with Blindness

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Faculty of Nursing- Ain Shams University-Cairo-Egypt.

Abstract

Background:Childhood blindness refers to a group of diseases and conditions
occurring in childhood or early adolescence. Blindness is a significant public health problem
that affects the health, economic well-being, and productivity of individuals, families, and
society as a whole. Aims: the aim of this study was to assess girls' adjustment with blindness.
Design: A descriptive design was used to this study. Setting: the study was conducted at two
schools for blind girls in Cairo and Mansoura cities, Egypt. Sample: purposive sample (47 in
Cairo school and 66 in Mansoura School) were included in the study for a total sample of
113 girls. Tools: The data were collected using a structured interviewing questionnaire form.
The tool consisted of 8 parts: socio-demographic data for girls, the details of girl’s blindness
history, medical history of girls’, menstrual history, assess girl's knowledge of blindness,
girl’s health problems, assessment of girl’s practices towards daily living activities&
assessment of girl’s adjustment towards blindness. Results: the mean age of the studied
girl’s was 14.5±1.8, 46% of the studied girls were blind since birth, that 87.6% of studied
girls’ had unsatisfactory level of knowledge regarding blindness, 64.6% of the studied girls
had high total adjustment. Conclusion: There was no statistically significant relation
between socio-demographic characteristics and level of girls with blindness knowledge.
There was statistically significant relation between total adjustment and Daily living
activities independence level. There was no statistically significant relation between
activities of daily living and level of girls with blindness knowledge. Recommendations:
Early detection strategies of cases to avoid vision loss specially that most of causes can be
treated, Encourage girls with blindness to participate in social life.

Keywords