Stroke Survivor and Caregiver Perspectives on Post-Stroke Visual Concerns and Long-Term Consequences

Table 1

Subthemes and codes for the theme: visual concerns and consequences.

Subthemes	Code frequency	Prototypical quotations
Eye movement problems
Double vision	1 ss; 3 c	“I got up to go to the bathroom and the double vision was so bad I could not make it from the bathroom to the bed.” (ss24, 68, M, IRF); “She was now having real visual problems. She was seeing double and things were happening.” (c17, 74, M, acute rehab only)
Eyes do not focus	1 ss	“Well, worse problem I have is with my eyes. They do not focus together.” (ss5, 71,M, no rehab)
Eyes jumping around	1 c	“The one thing that I do regret is that I did not jump on them more about his eye and even Dr. and them … I mean finally after we’d been there all through intensive care obviously they know his eyes are jumping around.” (c1, 65, F, IRF)
Eyelid does not close	1 c	“…and the idea of his eye not staying shut is one big thing. And had I known more about it I would have insisted they get somebody in there to close that eye so that it would not get hurt, the cornea.” (c1, 65, F, IRF)
Perceptual issues
Trouble distinguishing colors	1 ss	“I can see colors, all kinds of colors but if you have a pink and close to a pink, I can’t distinguish, or a white and a yellow. Like, if it’s a light yellow, I’m using that as a for instance. I can’t distinguish that anymore.” (ss23, 74, F, IRF)
Loss of depth perception	1 ss; 1 c	“My depth perception is real off.” (ss7, 57, F, acute rehab); “We lay things out and his eyes still are a problem because he cannot see the depth perception.” (c1, 65, F, IRF)
Lost peripheral vision	4 ss; 2 c	“It’s my eyes. I can’t see out of the peripheral…” (ss42, 67, F, IRF); “He did have peripheral vision on the right side was lost, and we noticed that weeks later we were driving down 610 and there’s a Derek Hotel… he said, “What is a Derek Hot?” He didn’t get the last part of it, the E-L, hotel.” (c20, 76, F, outpatient rehab)
Left neglect	3 ss; 2 c	“I was determined to have left neglect as well. If you’re not familiar with that, it’s a pretty bizarre condition. Someone came from behind me and startled me. I kind of was spooked, so I, “Whoa,” by the person coming around.” (ss19, 55, M, acute care rehab only); “His perception is pretty off, he has left side of negligence.” (c11, 73, F, home health)
Impaired visual processing	2 ss; 2 c	“I can see things all around me. No problem that way but when it comes to them together, I can put them together but I have to really concentrate.” (ss23, 74, F, IRF); “And a problem she has today is that she can see something but it doesn’t…it happened too quickly for her to digest.” (c17,74, M, acute rehab only)
Consequences of vision problems or issues
Decreased eye-hand coordination	3 c	“But the hand-eye, those that have had visual issues and coordination issues” (c17,74, acute rehab only)
Difficulty reading	3 c	“He did teach himself to read, though. He worked about five hours a day on the computer and reading.” (c20, 76, F, outpatient)
Impaired balance and falls	2 ss; 2 c	“Balance and vision? Yea…that’s my main complaints.” (ss7, 57, F, acute rehab only); “You are going to fall or something else is going to happen to you if we do not get you to the doctor and get your eyes examined.” (c4, 76, F, NR)
Incapacity to drive	1 ss	“He said that I had lost peripheral vision in my left eye…I do not drive my car anymore.” (ss37, 63, M, NR)
Inability to work	1 c	“For the longest time, all he wanted to do was go back to work and he began to realize that he couldn’t read properly.” (c11, 73, F, home health)

ss = stroke survivor; c = caregiver; IRF = inpatient rehabilitation facility; F = female; M = male; NR = not reported.