Abstract
Around 795,000 people experience a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) every year with many of these individuals experiencing visual impairments post-CVA leading to difficulty completing their activities of daily living (ADLs). Occupational therapists are skilled in collaborating with their clients to implement visual compensation strategies to improve their independence and safety in completing ADLs. The purpose of this critically appraised topic (CAT) was to explore the effectiveness of visual compensation training in improving ADL performance for individuals with visual deficits post-CVA. The inclusion criteria included full-length peer-reviewed articles, the population of individuals post-CVA, the intervention of visual compensation strategies, outcome measure of improved ADL performance, and articles published within the last 10 years. Exclusion criteria included reports and dissertations, articles older than 10 years old, interventions outside of visual compensation strategies (vision rehabilitation strategies), and evidence level 3B or lower. Databases searched included CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, Medline Complete, OT Seeker, and Scopus. The articles included for appraisal consisted of 2 level IA articles and 4 level 2B articles for a total of 6 articles. Level 1A and 2B research revealed overall positive results for the use of compensatory visual strategies on ADL performance for patients who have visual deficits following a stroke, however, more research is required to strengthen the evidence as there were many limitations associated with these articles.