الفهرس 
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Abstract
With a global population of 217 million people having moderate to severe visual impairment and 36 million blind people, the challenge of visual impairement remains a serious public health challenge. Together with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness), the “VISION 2020: Right to Sight” campaign was aimed at eliminating avoidable blindness and VI by the year 2020. However, most of the affected individuals are from low- to middle-income countries, which are also heavily affected by other diseases such as neglected tropical diseases, malaria, and tuberculosis among others. These health challenges in addition to visual impairment have far-reaching consequences that ultimately lead to reduced educational opportunities, minimal economic participation, increased rates of poverty and reduced economic development among the disabled. (Xulu-Kasaba & Kalinda, 2022.).Purpose of the study The present study was carried out to assess psychological distress among children with visual impairment.Research question: what is the level of psychological distress among children with visual impairment.Research design:- The descriptive correlational design was used in this study.Research setting: - this study was conducted in El-Nour School for children with visual impairments, which is located on Prison Street behind Abdel Moneim Riad Secondary School for Boys, beside the school of Intellectual Education, Shebin El-Kom, Menoufia governorate.
Subjects: A convenience sample of 60 children with visual impairments enrolled at El-Nour school for blind students in Shebin El-Kom City, Menoufia Governorate.Data Collection Instruments: -These instruments were used for data collection.Instrument One: A structured interview questionnaire:This questionnaire was developed by the researcher after reviewing related literature to assess socio-demographic characteristics of the children. It included 3 parts: part 1: information about children’s age, gender, place of residence and part 2: information about parents, such as their fathers and mother’s occupation, age, income, and educational leveland part 3:information about family.Instrument (Two): Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS)It was developed by (Lovibond, 1995). The DASS consists of 21 items and is a self-report screening tool that measures the frequency of behaviors or intensity of feelings based on three subscales: depression (DASS-A) (7 items), anxiety (DASSD) (7 items), and stress(DASS-S) (7 items). A DASS total score was computed from the three subscales. Scores of items rated on a three-point scale (i.e., from 0 = ‘never’’ to 2 = always’). The higher the score, the worse the DASS.
The main findings of the study revealed the following:
1- About 66.67% of the studied children had severe depression.2- About 15.00% had moderate depression.3- About 18.33% had mild depression.4- About 56.67% had severe anxiety.5- About 38.33% had moderate anxiety.
6- About 5.0% had mild anxiety.7- About 58.33% had severe stress.8- About 36.67% had moderate stress.9- about 5.0% had mild stress.Based on the findings of the current study, it can be concluded that: About more than two thirds of the studied children had severe depression. Also more than, half of them had severe anxiety and severe stress.
Based on the findings of the present study, the following recommendations are 1. Treatment and follow-up visits of integrated care, which coordinates ophthalmologists and psychiatric or psychological referrals, may maximize efficiency and lead to effective patient-centered care.2. The need for depression, anxiety and stress screening in children with visual impairment.3. Integrating a screening protocol to detect and treat psychological distress in general eye clinics, low vision, and rehabilitation settings.4. A family support system should be established, and special workshops for parents of visually impaired children should be conducted and establishment of educational program for parents to help them to deal effectively with their visually impaired children.