Ocular Disease and Sight Loss: Meeting Psychosocial Needs

?Background:

 

Psychosocial care remains an extremely important part of the holistic approach to care, but one which has been underestimated in clinical practice and only superficially addressed in the ophthalmic literature to date. 

This aspect of care most often gets less attention by healthcare professionals due to the dominance of a technology-enhanced approach to caring practice. Clearly, the skills afforded by science and technology are important for healthcare professionals in practice, but it is also important for them to be aware of the impact of the transfer of such skills on patients from a humanistic perspective. The delivery of technology-enhanced care can often trigger innermost feelings and needs such as fear, anxiety, stress, loss of control, and a sense of alienation. This book seeks to address the imbalance often observed between nursing both as an art and science, and to emphasise the importance of raising the healthcare knowledge and understanding of the value of social psychology and its application to ophthalmic practice in addressing this imbalance.

 

Main aims:

 

(1) To discuss the psychosocial needs and care of patients with ocular disease and sight loss.

(2) To discuss the importance and relevance of the psychosocial aspects of ophthalmic care with reference to psychosocial theory and its application.

(3) To discuss the psychosocial role of the healthcare professional in facilitating emotional recovery and promoting quality of life in the care and management of patients with ocular disease and sight loss.

 

Dr Susan Watkinson, BA, RN, OND (Hons) PGCEA, MSc (University of Surrey), PhD (University of Surrey), was formerly an Associate Lecturer at the College of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare, University of West London, Brentford, London. She qualified as an ophthalmic nurse at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, where she later held Sister and Clinical Teaching posts. She held nurse tutor and Principal lecturer posts at the Wolfson Education Centre, London, and later gained an MSc in Educational Studies (1990), and a PhD in Education (2001) from the University of Surrey. 
She has considerable experience of teaching ophthalmic nursing, general nursing, research, and ethics and philosophy within pre-and post-registration nurse education, and research methodology and applied research philosophies for post-graduate Master's Degree and PhD Doctorate programmes. For the past several years she has taught psychosocial theory and its application to ophthalmic practice for the BSc Professional Practice (Ophthalmic Nursing) course at the University of West London. Ophthalmic nursing remains her specialist clinical interest and she has published extensively within nursing journals, contributed book chapters and had two ophthalmic nursing books published. Her current research interest focuses on exploring the emotional impact of sight loss, and the associated psychosocial needs and care of patients with ocular disease.
Dr Swapna Williamson, RN, RM, BA (University of Calcutta), BSc Nursing (All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India), MSc Nursing (University of Delhi, India), LLB (University of Delhi), PhD (All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India), MMEd (University of Dundee) is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA). Her 35 years of teaching experience in higher education from Level 4 to doctoral students includes learning skills development, service improvement, research methodology and ethics. 
As an Associate Professor at the College of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare, University of West London, she was actively engaged in and led in developing curriculum and documentation, counselling, teaching and assessing students of Foundation Degree in Science in Health and Social Care, undergraduate and postgraduate, and PhD students. She is also associated with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in the State of Jammu, North India. Recently, she has been offered a professorship post to become involved in a project focusing on research development within the Institute.