By Vijay Tailor-Hamblin,
In today’s session we had some new members join us, they were welcomed, and we had some of the original members of the group tell them what we do at YPAG.
We started off with Vijay asking us questions and familiarising ourselves with what research is and how it can be beneficial to people. We learnt about how research is systematic, and we also learnt about the process of research like the research cycle. Also talking about how we contribute to research and the YPAG team gives their ideas about research projects.
After this Annegret talked to us about smart patches and the app that is used with it. We gave our opinions on the layout of the app and what could be improved. We decided that the customizability of the app would be useful as some people would prefer a different layout and design. We also thought of things that would make the children want to wear the patch as that is what improves the child’s eyesight. We thought adding a daily log in system would be good and hopefully keep the child interested and wanting to wear it.
After Michael talked about testing vision at home. Many children come into Moorfields just to test their eyesight; this could be done at home quite accurately without having to travel many miles. There was a selection of different tests you could do, some more appropriate for elders, some for youngsters. We gave our opinion on what test would be useful for who and discussed if they would be accurate.
Next up was Ana who was talking about the quality of life within people with vision loss. We were asked important questions such as, what does it mean to have a good quality of life? And how it is important to check on people’s mental health. To help her develop ways to assess young people’s quality of life.
Our last talk was with Michael again talking about well-being for people with visual impairments and how they can improve their mental health. There would be a 101 questions that a young person would have to answer.
Which could be through letters, online form, in person or on a call. We decided to make the person have a choice as different people have preferences. These questions are designed to get an accurate response on how the person is feeling and if they are in serious need of help. We also talked about how this information should be kept between the doctor and the patient and this should be stated clearly.
At the end we had the chance to say what was good and what could be done to improve the meeting. We all would have liked more time to sit in small groups and do smaller tasks. We really liked meeting our new members.
Part 3 Esme’s Blog
In this short video, Nottingham YPAG member Sheena talks about why she wants to get involved in research.
We play Pictionary using research concepts intead of the usual game cards, allocated to different levels of difficulty.
