FAQs about the CVI Project

Who has approved this study?

The study is funded by the National Institute for Health Research. Each study (Prevalence, Impact, Linkage and Feasibility) needs its own ethical approval. The Prevalence study has been approved by the University of Bristol’s Health Science Faculty Ethics Committee: Application 39801

In the Prevalence study, how do you ensure that children’s details are kept safe?

For this study, we used a unique ID number for each student so that we wouldn’t use identifiable student data. Schools kept a spreadsheet linking their students to each ID number so that they could be identified (by the school) for feedback at the end of the study.

In the Prevalence study, how do you choose which children will take part in Looking Activities?

We chose some children based on the teacher questionnaire, some on the parent questionnaire, some based on whether or not they got additional support at school and some were chosen at random. We didn’t tell the schools or the vision testers why any one student was chosen.

My child has been to a Looking Activities session, when will I get their results?

We will be busily analysing all the information that we get over the summer with the aim of visiting our participating schools at the beginning of next term with as much information as possible. We will tell the schools about the overall study results – and the particular children in their school who seemed to struggle with the vision tests in a way that suggests CVI.  We will visit each school with the results for any children who appeared to us to have vision problems, with advice on how to help and a note for onward referral if needed. We will bring copies for the parents, so they will get a copy of whatever the school gets if there were any problems, or notification that all seemed well to us if their child didn’t have any problems with the tests we used. We would also be happy to meet and discuss any specific results if that is useful for families, when we visit the schools.

Is CVI anything to do with autism?

CVI and autism are thought to be associated or at least overlapping in some children but it is a complex area especially as different authors use different definitions for CVI. This is a link to a presentation on autism and visual impairment from 1996:

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