Impact of spectacle wear on the quality of life of learners with hearing impairment in Ghana

Abstract

Background: Visual impairment significantly affects learners with hearing impairment.Aim: To assess the impact of spectacle wear on the quality of life (QoL) of learners with hearing impairment in Ghana.Setting: Six schools for the deaf in Ghana.Methods: A prospective case-control study design was used to assess the QoL among learners with uncorrected refractive error (URE) using the quality-of-life impact of refractive correction (QIRC) questionnaire before and after the provision of spectacles.Results: A total of 138 learners were enrolled in this study, with 69 learners in both the intervention and control groups, respectively. The mean QIRC score improved significantly for the intervention group: QIRC score before = 43.89 ± 8.96 vs. after = 48.82 ± 6.71 (P  0.05 and Cohen’s d = 0.62) but not the control group: QIRC score before = 50.79 ± 11.66 and 51.77 ± 10.67 (P = 0.607). Among the learners provided with spectacles, those who did not comply with spectacle wear had significant differences (P  0.05) in mean QIRC scores before and after the intervention. Only visual acuity (VA) and the magnitude of prescription with QIRC scores after intervention had a significant relationship (P  0.05).Conclusion: Uncorrected refractive error affected the QoL of learners with hearing impairment, and spectacle correction significantly improved their QoL.Contribution: The use of spectacle lenses, VA and magnitude of prescription affected the QoL scores; however, sex and age did not influence the QoL scores.