The influence of vision level on hand use in children with VI (V1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The impact of vision level on the way that young children who are visually impaired use their hands: a cross-sectional study.
IRAS ID
198213
Contact name
Julia Smyth
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
St George's University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
How does vision influence the way that children with severe visual impairment and profound visual impairment use their hands when they are playing, between six and 36 months of age?
Vision is the sense that promotes development the most in early childhood. Seeing new objects sparks babies’ interest in the world and motivates them to explore it. As a result, babies with visual impairments (VI) miss out on these experiences, putting them at risk of developmental delays. For children with VI, using their hands skillfully is a key foundation for development. There is, however, little research describing the impact of their vision level (the amount of vision a child has) on the way they use their hands.
This study aims to describe the influence of vision on the way children with VI use their hands and is part of the degree: Master of Research in Clinical Research. The research will be conducted at the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) Developmental Vision Clinic.
VI is a rare disability in childhood and it is often difficult to recruit enough participants to conduct high quality research. Therefore, a retrospective case note review will be employed for this study. Videoed medical records, of children with VI, will be used. Data will be extracted using structured observations. The researcher, who is a member of the clinical team, will make these observations. This anonymised group data will be analysed in the study.
The videos were recorded by the GOSH Developmental Vision Clinic to document and monitor children's development over time. There are approximately 250 records in the collection spanning 26 years (1980 – 2016) of clinical work. All the records that meet the inclusion criteria for this study will be used. The study will last for approximately six months and will be completed in September 2016.
REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
16/NI/0050
Date of REC Opinion
14 Mar 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion