The health and social care information needs and behaviour of people with a visual impairment.

Background and purpose: There are currently almost two million people with a visual impairment in the United Kingdom, many of whom also experience other health conditions and/or disabilities. People with visual impairments are, therefore, often regular users of health and social care services. Information has an important role in helping support and improve people's health and social care. The purpose of this thesis was, therefore, to address an identified knowledge gap and undertake an in-depth study of the health and social care information needs and behaviour of people with a visual impairment.
Design/ methodology/ approach: The research consisted of four interconnected studies: an interview study with 17 people with an age-related visual impairment and 14 people with a visual impairment since birth or early childhood; an audio diary study with seven older visually impaired people; a survey of managers of local societies for the blind and partially sighted; and an evaluation of the active involvement of visually impaired people in the design of this research.
Findings: As a result of this research we now have a detailed understanding of the health and social care information needs of two groups of visually impaired people, in particular the types of information they require; the information sources they use, such as local societies for the blind and partially sighted; what factors potentially affect their information behaviour; the possible role of newer information sources, such as NHS Direct and the Internet; as well as the extent to which two established information models (Wilson, 1999 and Moore, 2002) can explain their information behaviour.
Originality/ value: This research, the first of its kind, substantially increases our knowledge of the health and social care information needs and behaviour of visually impaired people by employing novel approaches, such as the adoption of audio diaries as a research method, and involving visually impaired people directly in the design of the research.