Faculty Advisor(s)

Maureen Rinehimer

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Abstract

Background Information Numerous disabilities have been shown to benefit with aquatic exercise by research. There is a dearth of research on the health effects of aquatic exercise for individuals with visual impairments. Adults with visual impairments generally have a lower health-related quality of life (HRQoL) than their peers without visual impairments. Additionally, living a sedentary lifestyle increases the chance of developing diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, osteoporosis, and sarcopenic obesity. After reading about the positive and long-lasting effects of aquatic exercise in previous studies, these researchers investigated the effects of an aquatic fitness program for individuals with visual impairments.

Goal: The aim is to ascertain whether there are notable variations among individuals with vision impairments who participate in an aquatic therapy program in the following areas: strength, balance, quality of life, and emotional well-being. The researchers hypothesize that aquatic exercise generates positive changes in participant's strength, balance, quality of life, and emotional well-being.

Methods: This eight-week mixed methods experimental study with repeated measures design followed a protocol study produced by the PI and students and IRB approved at Misericordia University (2023). Following inclusion criteria, the participants were ages 30-80 with visual impairments from Northeast Sight Services, in Pennsylvania. The participants attended 2 times per week for 8 weeks using an exercise program approved by Ohio State University (60 minutes) consisting of aerobics and strengthening exercises. The objective measures used in this study were the BERG Balance Scale, 30 Second Sit to Stand Test, and SF-36. Additionally, 10 open-ended questions were devised using 4 questions from the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ).

Results: The analysis included repeated measures with all outcomes measures set at alpha level p=/< 0.001 with paired t-tests. The 30-second sit-to-stand demonstrated a Cohen’s d of 2.15 and with the BERG, a Cohen’s d of 2.62. The SF36 demonstrated improvements in a few areas. The open-ended questions emphasized phrases such as: "I am better than I used to be," “increased comradery with this study," "I gained endurance," "From this program, it spurred me to continue exercising,” and "liked exercises in a pool."

Conclusion: This study suggests that aquatic exercise is an effective intervention for this population to improve strength, endurance, and quality of life. The qualitative questions helped to obtain rich feedback from the participants. In Rinehimer et al, 2024, the participants with visual impairment pointed out during the SF 36, that more in-depth questions were needed as vision, not health, impaired their lifestyles.

Implications: The results could provide rehabilitation specialists an opportunity to promote health and well-being as well as promoting a fun activity to encourage socialization in aquatic programs for those with visual impairment. Additionally, aquatic exercise is shown to be effective in improving strength, endurance, and quality of life in participants with the improvement of interpersonal relationships. Further research is needed: with a larger number of participants, to investigate cardio pulmonary outcomes and have more open ended questions to explore more avenues of the explicit needs of a people with a visual impairment.

Publication Date

2024

Document Type

Poster

Department

Physical Therapy

Keywords

aquatic therapy, physical therapy, strength, balance, emotional well-being, quality of life, visual impairment

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences | Physical Therapy

Clinical Effectiveness of an Aquatic Exercise Program on Strength, Balance, Quality of Life and Emotional Well-Being in Those with Visual Impairments

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