Applied Orientation as a Correlate to Effective Mobility for Persons with Visual Impairments in the North West, South West and West Regions of Cameroon
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31150/ajshr.v2i4.440Keywords:
Mobility, Visual Impairments, Cameroon, PWVIAbstract
The purpose of the study was to investigate applied orientation as a correlate to effective mobility of PWVI in the North West, South west and west regions of Cameroon. To achieve the objective of the study the mix method approach with the sequential explanatory design was adopted for the study. The sampling procedure adopted were the purposive and snowball sampling techniques where those selected for the study were believed to have the required information and gathering them entails moving from one respondent to another. After the validity and reliability of the instrument for data collection (interview guide and questionnaires) were confirmed, the data was gathered within a period of three weeks from PWVIs and Regional Chiefs of Service in charge of PWDs in the three regions concerned. Quantitative data was analysed using EpiData Version 3.1 (EpiData Association, Odense Denmark, 2008) database which has an in-built consistency and validation checks was used to enter the data with both the demographic information and the test items coded with numbers. Questionnaires were also assigned with serial numbers and data range and validation checks were also performed using SPSS version 25.0 (IBM Inc., 2017) to identify invalid codes (data cleaning) with the aid of exploratory statistics. The auditory senses in relation to effective mobility were measured with the use of inferential and descriptive statistics. Frequencies, percentages, multiple regression analysis and Spearman Rho test were crucial for the study. The findings then showed that there is a very significant and positive strong relationship between the use of auditory senses and the effective mobility of PWVI as a majority of them, 84.3% are effectively using their auditory while 15.7% respectively do not. Thus enhancing their effective movement from one place to another. Based on these results, the researcher proposed some important recommendations to enhance the use of the multisensory channels for effective mobility of PWVI and the teaching of O and M by all the stakeholders concerned in education.
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