A psychosocial intervention program for patients with age-related macular degeneration: findings of a pilot evaluation study

The purpose of this work was to develop and evaluate a psychosocial intervention aimed to improve quality of life of AMD patients. A total of 22 outpatients (age 62 to 80 years) treated in the University Eye Clinic in Heidelberg were divided into an intervention group (n = 14) and a comparison group without intervention (n = 8). The intervention program was based on six modules carried out in five weekly group sessions. These modules included: (1) progressive muscle relaxation, (2) exchange of disease-related experiences, (3) connection between thought, emotion, and behavior, (4) activation of available resources, (5) general problem solving skills and (6) information exchange. Pre-post assessment addressed a set of standardized emotional and behavioral outcome measures. Findings revealed that the intervention group showed improvement or prevention of additional loss in emotional as well as in behavioral outcomes, while the comparison group did not. Results are interpreted as initial evidence that the developed program is able to improve the quality of life in patients suffering from AMD.