An Age-Cohort Study of Older Adults with and without Visual Impairments: Activity, Independence, and Life Satisfaction

Abstract

This survey of 560 older adults who were visually impaired or sighted analyzed whether the two groups differed in their levels of activity, independence, and life satisfaction and the degree to which activity and independence contribute to the prediction of life satisfaction. Implications for rehabilitation services are discussed. MethodsThe study was conducted in accordance with the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Massey University Human Ethics Committee, Palmerston North, New Zealand. A questionnaire was administered to all registered members

Factors affecting perceived quality of life of older persons with self-reported visual disability

“…They were also found to rate their QoL lower when asked to do so on a 1-5 scale. This pattern of responding has been reported in a number of earlier studies [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8].…”

“…Studies of older persons living in the community consistently indicate that those who have difficulty seeing have a high rate of functional disability (i.e., performing activities of daily living including mobility) [1,2], are less well-off economically [3,4], more often socially isolated or lonely [5,6], have more concomitant health conditions [3,7], exhibit poorer physical and mental health [7], and express less satisfaction with life [8] than those who do not. As such, it is generally claimed that visual disability has an adverse affect on quality of life (QoL) [8,9].…”

“…As such, it is generally claimed that visual disability has an adverse affect on quality of life (QoL) [8,9]. This claim is supported by the fact that older persons with difficulty seeing are also generally found to score lower on composite measures of QoL than those who do not, regardless of the type of composite measure used (i.e., general, health related, or vision specific measures) [9][10][11] or the cause of visual disability [12].…”

FLORA™: Phase I development of a functional vision assessment for prosthetic vision users

“…The third category addresses using vision for mobility (for example, independently cross residential streets by following the lines of a crosswalk; avoid obstacles while walking) and the fourth assesses ‘Daily living tasks’, with emphasis on the visual aspects of the tasks (for example, visually locate/identify things in the bathroom; sort light from dark laundry). Blindness is known to be socially isolating, so the fifth category was added to evaluate visual tasks having to do with social interaction (for example, visually detecting the presence of others in a room; determining the direction of movement of people walking by).…”

Associations of self-reported vision problems with health and psychosocial functioning: A 9-year longitudinal perspective

“…This anticipation might in turn facilitate adaptation to such an impairment and prevent or at least buffer declines in well-being. Several studies indeed reported that the negative association between vision and well-being is smaller among older compared to younger individuals (Boerner, 2004;Brunes et al, 2019;Good et al, 2008). However, these studies all relied on a cross-sectional study design so that it is still unclear if such a moderating role of chronological age can also be observed from a dynamic perspective, when changes in both vision and well-being are considered.…”