Adjustment to Vision Loss in a Mixed Sample of Adults with Established Visual Impairment

Abstract

PURPOSE.To determine factors associated with the level of adjustment to vision loss in a cross-sectional sample of adults with mixed visual impairment. METHODS.One hundred participants were administered the Acceptance and Self-Worth Adjustment Scale (AS-WAS) to assess adjustment to vision loss. The severity of vision loss was determined using binocular clinical visual function assessments including visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, reading performance, and visual fields. Key demographics including age, duration of visual impairment, general health, education, and living arrangements were evaluated, as were self-reported vision-related activity limitation (VRAL), depression, social support, and personality.RESULTS. Multivariate analysis showed that higher levels of depressive symptoms (b ¼ À0.26, P < 0.01) and of the personality trait neuroticism (b ¼À0.33, P < 0.001), and lower levels of the personality trait of conscientiousness (b ¼ 0.29, P < 0.01), were associated with poorer adjustment to vision loss, explaining 56% variance.CONCLUSIONS. Adjustment to vision loss is significantly associated with depression and certain traits of personality (specifically neuroticism and conscientiousness), independent of the severity of vision loss, VRAL, and duration of vision loss. The results suggest certain individuals may be predisposed to exhibiting less adjustment to vision loss due to personality characteristics, and exhibit poorer adjustment owing to or as a consequence of depression, rather than due to other factors such as the onset and severity of visual impairment. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2012;53:7227-7234)

Depression and experience of vision loss in group of adults in rehabilitation setting: Mixed-methods pilot study

“…This suggests the possibility that patients' self-awareness of impairment could be more intimately related to the way patients experience the impairment, rather than being merely associated with time. This finding is consistent with a recent study that suggested that the adjustment process to vision loss and depression is associated with psychological variables such as neuroticism and conscientiousness, rather than duration and severity of the vision loss [23].…”

“…Rather, higher levels of emotional distress were found in patients with less tolerance of vision loss as well as in those who perceived a greater interference of vision loss with their goal-directed behavior and expected activities. Similarly, Tabrett and Latham reported that adjustment to impairment was associated with depression among adults with irreversible vision loss, but significant relationships between depression, severity/duration of vision loss, and self-reported functional limitations were not identified [23]. In that study, the assessment protocol for the severity of vision loss took into account the patients' visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, reading performance, and visual fields.…”

Resilience and vision impairment in older people

“…Vision impairment has multi-faceted impacts upon people's lives; it impacts on functional ability and mobility (both in terms of getting out and about and individual functional mobility), which affects social interaction and psychological wellbeing (Gallagher, Hart, O'Brien, Stevenson, & Jackson, 2011;Grue et al, 2010;Hodge & Eccles, 2013). However, the relationship between severity of impairment and the impact upon wellbeing is not simple (Schilling, Wahl, Horowitz, Reinhardt, & Boerner, 2011); there is a range of influencing factors (Brown & Barrett, 2011).Hernandez Trillo & Dickinson (2012) found non-visual factors including physical and mental health to be better predictors of quality of life in people with a vision impairment than visual function, whilst Tabrett and Latham (2012) reported that personality traits influenced the occurrence of depression in vision impaired people. Amongst older people with vision impairment there is often considerable physical and emotional co-morbidity, which compounds the challenges they face (Court, McClean, Guthrie, Mercer, & Smith, 2014;Thetford, Robinson, Knox, Mehta, & Wong, 2008;Thetford et al, 2011;Thurston, 2010).…”

Evaluation of an Emotional Support Service for the Visually Impaired

“…However, we have previously noted 37 that whilst the level of adjustment to visual loss is associated with depression and some aspects of personality (neuroticism and conscientiousness), adjustment is independent of the severity and duration of vision loss, and of reported difficulties in visual tasks.…”