A 2-year study of coping strategies of home based frail elders with vision impairment

This paper provides a follow-up to an earlier report on assistive device needs of older persons with vision impairments. In the earlier report we described a sample of 30 visually impaired elders based on a single interview with each subject. In this current paper we describe a sample of 38 elders with vision impairment at two points in time: an initial interview and assessment and a follow-up 2 years later. We explore changes over 2 years in demographics, health, psyche-social and functional status, problems experienced in the home environment, and use of assistive devices.