An Exploration of the Needs of Somali Visually Impaired People in Sheffield

1. An Exploration of the Needs of Somali Visually Impaired People in Sheffield Higginbottom G 1, Story R 2, Rivers K 3 1) Senior Lecturer, Community Ageing and Rehabilitation (CAR) Department, University of Sheffield, 2) Representative and Trustee of the Horn of Africa Blind Society (HABS), 3) Research Assistant, CAR Department, University of Sheffield PRELIMINARY FINDINGS – Five Themes:1) Socio-cultural perceptions of Somali visually impaired people.2) Identified needs.3) Information and communication.4) Family and social networks.5) Migration. • Aim: The overall aim of the study is to provide an in-depth exploration of the needs of Somali Visually Impaired people in Sheffield. • Objectives: •   To identify the health and social care needs of Somali blind and visually impaired people in Sheffield. •   To highlight the barriers in accessing services. •    To elicit the awareness amongst Somali visually impaired people of existing services such as, registration. •    To find out what eye conditions are most common amongst this ethnic group in Sheffield. •    To establish the perspectives of carers of visually impaired Somali people in Sheffield. • Methodology: • A qualitative study that isunderpinned and informed by a participatory research methodology (Beresford & Evans 1999, Beresford 2000, Rhodes et al 2001) that involves consumers in the research design, data collection, data analysis and dissemination. • Methods • Three methods of data tools were utilised: • Four focus group interviews with members of HABS, service providers and members of the Somali community (n26). • Semi-structured interviews with blind and visually impaired members of the Somali community (n32). • Telephone survey with carers of visually impaired people (n5). Analysis: The ‘Framework’ method of analysis developed by the National Centre for Social Research is being be used facilitating a transparent, systematic and consistent approach to the storage, retrieval and analysis of the qualitative data. Setting: Sheffield Participants: Members of HABS, Somali Groups and Associations, service providers, Somali visually impaired people and their carers. An audio-taped version of this information is available below. Funded by the Sheffield Health and Social Research Consortium