The 1Touch Project: A Pilot Study of the Efficacy of a Program to Teach Individuals Who are Blind and Visually Impaired Self-Defense Tessa McCarthy University of Pittsburgh Miranda Brown and Stephen Nicholls 1Touch

Introduction Traditionally, martial arts and self-defense courses are not taught in an accessible format Self-defense courses operate under presuppositions of using vision during the practice

What is 1Touch? Self-defense program created to address the specific needs of the B/VI Teaches skills such as threat recognition, threat analysis, and appropriate response The program employs a flexible pedagogy

Purpose of Pilot Study Assess the efficacy of the program to teach individuals who are B/VI the skills that are part of a self-defense program To assess the hypothesized psychosocial impact of the training on participants

Research Questions What level of mastery do participants who complete the initial coaching certification course of the 1Touch Project achieve? Do participants maintain the level of mastery when reviewed approximately six months later? Do participants who complete the 1Touch Project experience a positive psychosocial impact?

Methods A mixed-methodology was used to determine the acquisition of skills and the psychosocial impact experienced by participants

Methods - Continued Quantitative data in the form of behavioral observation was used to assess the acquisition of skills. Qualitative data in the form of a survey was used to assess the psychosocial impact.   Reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review of Board (IRB) of the North Carolina Central University.

Participants 62 participants completed the portion focused on the acquisition of skills. 27 of the participants were blind or visually impaired. 46 surveys were completed on the psychosocial impact of the program. 33 surveys were completed by individuals who are blind or visually impaired.

Procedure Completed 3 day 1Touch Project Coaching Certification Course (CCC) Trainings were held at various locations around the US During the training, participants learned via a framework of five basic principles.

5 Principles 1Touch 1Step Contouring Feeding TouchStrike

Procedure Continued Taught using tactile-modeling Audio description Releases and immobilization techniques Handling minor situations to the most aggravated assault Scenario training Drills and exercises

Measures: Acquisition of Skills A task analysis was performed on the key skills 76 steps were identified which were used as an action-based core curriculum exam. Definitions, examples, and non-examples were developed for each of the 76 steps.

Measures: Acquisition of Skills Continued Two coders were trained in how to code participants Interrater reliability was assessed during 33.87% of the sessions to ensure the data was not affected by interobserver drift. Rate of agreement was 95.51%.

Measures: Psychosocial Impact 3 surveys were administered: prior to additional training after completion of the initial training at the six month exam

Measures: Psychosocial Impact Continued Survey addressed aspects related to psychosocial wellbeing including: Feelings of security Self-confidence Comfort level in traveling independently Ability to take part in social opportunities Perceived physical health

Design and Data Analysis: Psychosocial Impact Descriptive statistics were run on participant responses for each question. Promising trends were noted but not enough participants completed the survey

Results

Acquisition of Skills Descriptive statistics indicated a high level of mastery after the initial training. On average, participants mastered 84.75% of the 76 steps Range of mastery from 60.53% - 100.00%. Not only did participants appear to master these skills, but participants seemed to retain the skills they had mastered.

Acquisition of Skills Continued 6 months after the initial training: Average level of skill master was 89.68% Range of 53.95% to 100.00%.

Acquisition of Skills Continued 11 skills were identified as being performed incorrectly by 10 or more of the 62 participants 6 months later only one skill was performed incorrectly by 10 of the 62 participants

Psychosocial Impact Due to the limited number of participants, the authors were unable to determine if there was a statistically significant increase in the participants’ reported psychosocial wellbeing.

Psychosocial Impact Continued Increases after training were noted with regard: Perceived safety on a daily basis Participants’ opinion of himself or herself Reported self-confidence. Reduction in the number of places in their community to which they would like to travel but didn’t because of fear.

Psychosocial Impact Continued Individuals who were visually impaired but did not consider themselves blind reported an increase in the number of days they traveled independently each week. Responses were higher for all individuals with regard to perceived strength, endurance, and flexibility.

Participants Comments “I feel a lot safer now traveling than I did before taking the [1Touch program],” “ I have gained even more confidence after the [1Touch program] and part of it is due to being more aware and paying more attention to what is going on…”

Limitations Despite positive trends found in the surveys of psychosocial well-being, there were not enough respondents to determine if these changes were statistically significant Only 46 people participated in this part of the study. This makes it impossible to know if the psychosocial impact was low or if the study needed more participants to accurately observe an impact.

Conclusion This pilot study provides preliminary evidence of skills which could potentially impact the population of individuals who are B/VI in such a way which could lead to increases in functional independence and quality of life.