Ten Weeks of Group Exercise Sparked Lasting Life Changes for People With Visual Impairment

For adults living with significant vision loss, the barriers to physical activity can feel insurmountable. Falls, social isolation, inaccessible facilities and sedentary routines often compound one another, gradually eroding both health and quality of life. Yet a new study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy suggests that a relatively modest intervention — ten weekly group-based mat exercise sessions — can set in motion changes that not only persist after the programme ends but grow stronger with time. The findings offer a striking illustration of how structured physical activity can function as an engine of sustained occupational and social transformation for people with visual impairment.

The research, led by Chun-Wei Chang of Monash University together with Ming-De Chen of Kaohsiung Medical University, Nikos Thomacos and Aislinn F. Lalor, followed up on a tailored physical activity programme previously delivered at the Kaohsiung Rehabilitation Centre for the Visually Impaired in Taiwan. The programme consisted of ten 90-minute mat exercise sessions held weekly between March and June 2023, designed specifically to address participation barriers faced by people with visual impairment. Its group format deliberately fostered peer support and social interaction, while accessible facilities and instructor guidance helped participants engage safely. Rather than measuring immediate fitness gains, the team wanted to know what happened to participants’ lives once the sessions stopped.

To answer that question, the researchers conducted an exploratory qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews with eleven of the twelve programme participants. Each participant was interviewed twice — once two months and once four months after the programme concluded, in September and November 2023. The interviews, conducted in Taiwanese and/or Mandarin Chinese according to participant preference, lasted roughly an hour each and drew on the Occupational Performance History Interview-II, a validated tool for exploring a person’s occupational life history. Questions probed changes in daily routines, occupational roles, motivation, and the personal meaning of both the programme and the changes participants noticed. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, translated into English and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke’s six-phase approach, with coding performed in NVivo 14.

The eleven respondents included three men and eight women aged between 28 and 64, all legally classified as having severe visual impairment, with the duration of their vision loss ranging from two to 55 years. Ten lived with family members, while one lived alone and relied on long-term care services for some household tasks. Three worked as masseurs; the remainder were unemployed. This diversity of circumstances allowed the researchers to trace how improved health rippled through very different life contexts — from paid work and parenting to household management and friendship.

Three overarching themes emerged from the analysis: ‘I have a healthier body and mind’, ‘I perform better in my day-to-day life’, and ‘My connection with others is growing’. The first theme captured perceived gains in physical and mental health. At the two-month mark, many participants described firmer muscles, greater flexibility, more energy and improved body shape. One participant, Chong, reflected that his legs felt stronger and he had more stamina when hiking. By four months, several reported that their stronger bodies were actively preventing injury, with fewer muscle strains, less fatigue at work and a reduced risk of falls. Mental health improvements followed a parallel trajectory: better mood, better emotional regulation, and — by the second interview — a more positive mindset and greater courage to try new things, such as walking unfamiliar routes. One participant, Chun, even applied the breathing techniques learned in the programme to manage stress and anxiety in daily life.

The second theme revealed how these health gains translated into occupational performance. Most participants reported walking more easily and confidently, which made shopping, transportation and social outings less daunting. At four months, some described walking longer distances with greater agility and less fear of uneven pavements or poor lighting. Exercise itself became embedded in routines: some continued with mat exercises at home or in similar courses elsewhere, while others joined yoga classes or running groups, guided by audio recordings from the programme. For the masseurs, the programme had direct economic consequences. Improved strength and endurance allowed them to work longer with less fatigue, and techniques such as adjusted breathing and body positioning made their work easier — changes they linked to longer careers and higher earnings. Several participants also described a shift from being cared for to caring for others: managing household tasks independently, easing their families’ worries, and even taking on parenting duties they had previously avoided.

The third theme charted expanding social worlds. The group format had created friendships that outlasted the programme itself, with participants coordinating meet-ups through the messaging app LINE and inviting one another to other activities. One participant, Wen, said the course gave him the chance to interact with people of different personalities, helping him build friendships beyond the programme. For the working masseurs, newly acquired knowledge about stretching and muscle strengthening enriched conversations with clients and deepened rapport. Family relationships strengthened too: participants shared class experiences over dinner, asked relatives for help refining exercise positions, and — as confidence and stamina grew — planned outings and independent visits they would previously have avoided. Several participants even became advocates, encouraging others who did not exercise to give it a try.

The researchers interpreted these cascading changes through the Do-Live-Well framework, an occupation-focused health promotion model that frames participation in meaningful activity as a chain of interconnected outcomes. In this view, physical activity improves health; better health supports engagement in daily occupations; and continued occupational engagement further reinforces health and well-being. The study’s two follow-up time points allowed the team to observe this dynamic in action: improvements reported at two months deepened and broadened by four months, with participants moving from simply noticing benefits to actively building lives around them. While earlier research had documented short-term physical and psychosocial gains from physical activity programmes for people with visual impairment, this study extends the evidence by showing that those gains can become progressively more pronounced over time.

The authors are careful to acknowledge the study’s limitations. The small, non-random sample consisted of service users of a single rehabilitation centre who were already relatively engaged with welfare organisations, so the findings may not generalise to socially isolated individuals with visual impairment. Reliance on self-reflection may have introduced response bias, with participants inclined to emphasise positive change, and the primary investigator’s dual role as programme instructor and interviewer — while fostering rapport and rich data — required careful reflexive management, including team discussions, member checking, a detailed audit trail and bilingual verification of transcripts. Participants were also free to engage in other physical activity during the follow-up period, and the programme involved only mat-based exercise from a single provider, leaving open questions about other formats and contexts.

Even so, the study carries a clear message for rehabilitation practice: physical activity should be promoted within occupational therapy as a health management strategy for people with visual impairment, and its outcomes should be evaluated over the long term rather than judged solely on immediate results. Most participants transitioned from structured mat exercise into alternative forms of activity — yoga, running, increased daily walking — even when home practice lapsed, suggesting that a well-designed programme can seed a durable, self-sustaining active lifestyle. For a population in which loneliness, falls and sedentary behaviour pose serious threats to well-being, the evidence that ten weeks of accessible, social, group-based exercise can keep paying dividends months later is a compelling argument for making such programmes a routine part of services for people with vision loss.

Subject of Research: Long-term life changes in adults with visual impairment after a group-based physical activity programme

Article Title: Life changes of people with visual impairment post participating in a group-based physical activity programme

Article References: Chang, C.-W., Chen, M.-D., Thomacos, N., & Lalor, A. F. (2025). Life changes of people with visual impairment post participating in a group-based physical activity programme. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 32(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/11038128.2026.2619340

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1080/11038128.2026.2619340

Keywords: visual impairment, physical activity, occupational therapy, group exercise, long-term outcomes, qualitative research, social participation, well-being, mat exercise, Taiwan, Do-Live-Well framework, daily living