Facilitators and barriers to participation in mental well-being programs by older Australians with vision impairment: community and stakeholder perspectives

Improved intention, self-efficacy and social influence in the workspace may help low vision service workers to discuss depression and anxiety with visually impaired and blind adults

Background

Depression and anxiety are common in visually impaired and blind adults, but often remain untreated in those who receive support from low vision service (LVS) organizations. This study aims to determine factors associated with discussing mental health by LVS workers.

Methods

A self-administered cross-sectional survey in one hundred LVS workers was performed. Data on current practice, symptom attribution, and determinants of the Integrated Change Model (i.e. predisposing and environmental factors, awareness, attitude, self-efficacy, social influence, confidence and barriers) were investigated. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to determine predictors of discussing mental health problems in this population. Subsequently, internal validation was conducted using a bootstrapping method.

Results

Around 80% of the participants often discussed mental health with clients. Five factors were found to predict discussion of mental health: female gender (OR = 4.51; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.98 to 21.61), higher education (OR = 3.39; CI 1.19 to 9.66), intention to discuss mental health problems (OR = 3.49; CI 1.20 to 10.15), higher self-efficacy (OR = 1.11; CI 1.02 to 1.20), and higher perceived social influence (OR = 1.15; CI 1.05 to 1.27). Good discrimination after internal validation was reflected by the area under the curve (0.850).

Conclusions

Previous studies indicate clients want healthcare providers to initiate discussions about mental health. However, still 20% of LVS workers do not discuss suspected depression or anxiety. In order to improve this, LVS organizations could address mental health as part of their care and provide training to ensure intention to discuss mental health problems, improve self-efficacy and create a supportive environment between colleagues.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-022-07944-0.

Music-based interventions to address well-being in people with a vision impairment: protocol for a scoping review

INTRODUCTION

Music-based interventions are used to improve well-being in individuals who are psychologically vulnerable and have long-term illnesses. To date, no study has systematically assessed the literature on music-based interventions aimed at improving well-being in people who have a vision impairment (VI). The purpose of the current protocol is to provide the methodology for a scoping review, to explore the therapeutic outcomes and strategies used in music-based interventions aimed specifically at people with a VI.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

This scoping review protocol was developed according to the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and reporting will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews checklist and guidelines. The anticipated start date for this study was July 2021. The proposed review will include studies that use music therapeutically as part of a treatment intervention for all VI populations. Studies that meet the inclusion criteria with regards to population, concept and context will be included. Electronic database searches will be conducted independently by two researchers and include MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL Plus, PsycINFO and Web of Science. Further searches will include the reference lists of included studies and grey literature. A narrative synthesis will be conducted to map out the types of therapeutic music interventions undertaken and to compare therapeutic outcomes.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

As the methodology of this study consists of collecting data from publicly available articles, it does not require ethics approval. The findings of the planned scoping review are important to guide the development of future interventions, or strategies, that will attempt to use music to improve well-being in people with a VI. The results will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed publication and conference presentations.