Refractive error and vision-related quality of life in South Indian children.

Purpose: To understand the vision-related quality of life (QoL) of schoolchildren with uncorrected refractive error (URE).

Methods: A snapshot qualitative research design and homogeneous sampling strategy was adopted. Thirty-one, 27, and 22 eye care practitioners, children, and teachers participated in four, three, and two focus group discussions, respectively. The participants were recruited from various parts of Chennai, India. The discussions were audio recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed.

Results: Eight themes emerged: complaints and symptoms of children with URE, vision-related activity limitation, coping strategies, psychological impact, social impact, the perceived difference after first time refractive correction, reasons for refractive error remaining uncorrected, and the significant amount of refractive error.

Conclusions: The study gives a holistic view of the vision-related QoL of children with URE by demonstrating the difficulties and problems that they face in their day-to-day life and also by describing the perceived difference in QoL after wearing refractive correction.