scholarly journals The Psychological Challenge of Late-Life Vision Impairment: Concepts, Findings, and Practical Implications

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-Werner Wahl

The intention is to summarize the body of evidence speaking to the psychological challenges faced by visually impaired older adults, as well as their coping efforts. This evidence is substantiated by a rich set of concepts, theories, and empirical findings that have accumulated under the umbrella of age-related psychoophthalmology (APO). I introduce the field of APO and continue with a discussion of important concepts and theories for a better understanding of adaptational processes in visually impaired older adults. I then summarize the most relevant and most recent data from four areas: (1) everyday competence, (2) cognitive functioning, (3) social functioning, and (4) subjective well-being-related outcomes, depression, and adaptational processes. Thereafter, major insights related to the current state-of-the art psychosocial interventions with visuallyimpaired older adults are reviewed. I close with the need that the public health community should become more aware of and address the psychosocial needs of visually impaired older adults.

Author(s):  
Dr. Vatika Sibal

Ageing is part of life. With age, the body physically changes and there are psychological challenges are faced by visual impairment. The elderly find it difficult to cope with the changes. The study is substantiated by concepts, theories, and empirical findings that have accumulated under the umbrella of age-related psycho-ophthalmology. The focus is on adaptation theories in visually impaired older adults. One can understand the ageing through everyday competence, cognitive functioning, social functioning, and subjective well-being-related outcomes, depression, and adaptation processes. Thereafter, major insights related to the current state-of-the art psychosocial interventions with visually impaired older adults are reviewed. There is a need of public health community should become more aware of and address the psychosocial needs of visually impaired older adults.


2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 1229-1236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liran Rafaely ◽  
Sara Carmel ◽  
Yaacov G. Bachner

Author(s):  
Holly Corlett ◽  
Andrew K. MacLeod

Age-related changes in future-directed thinking may be important for well-being. Older and younger adults generated idiographic anticipated experiences for the next week, the next year, and the next 5–10 years, using an adapted fluency measure. Relative to younger adults, older adults maintained a focus on the immediate future but frequency of anticipated events declined for the medium and longer term. The presence of negative thoughts for those two more distant time periods was related to lower life satisfaction in older adults. Content differences in thoughts illustrated the differing concerns of the two groups. The results align broadly with previous findings in the literature on socioemotional selectivity theory.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasmeen Niazi ◽  
Bisma Ejaz ◽  
Amina Muazzam

Objective: The main objective of this study was to explore the impact of hearing impairment on psychological distress and subjective well-being in older adults with hearing impairment. Methods: The study with cross sectional research design was conducted in three public sector hospitals of Lahore, from February 2017 to June 2017. Participants of the study were adults aged 50-90 years and with hearing impairment, selected through non-probability sampling technique. Demographic Information sheet, Kessler psychological distress scale by Kessler, Mroczek. in 1992 and Satisfaction with life scale by Diener, Emmons, Larsen, Griffin in 1985 were used for data collection. SPSS 21 was used to analyze the data. Results: There were 200 participants with age ranged from 53 to 89 years (M= 65.92, SD= 9.70). Of the total, 100 (50%) subjects were men and 100 (50%) were women. Significant gender differences were found in psychological distress, with men reflecting more symptoms of psychological distress (p<0.01), whereas non-significant gender differences were found in case of subjective well-being (p>0.05). Moreover, psychological distress was observed as a predictor of subjective well-being (p<0.01). One-way analysis of variance revealed insignificant differences of psychological distress and subjective well-being across three levels of hearing impairment. Conclusion: Early diagnosis and rehabilitation of age-related hearing loss improves the overall quality of life of older adults living with hearing impairment. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.6.2457 How to cite this:Niazi Y, Ejaz B, Muazzam A. Impact of hearing impairment on psychological distress and subjective well-being in older adults. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(6):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.6.2457 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


GeroPsych ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maida Mustafić ◽  
Alexandra M. Freund

Two studies demonstrate the usefulness of a newly developed, direct assessment method of subjective conceptualizations of development across adulthood. Results of Study 1 (N = 234, 18–83 years) suggest that older adults anticipate stronger decline in four domains of functioning (subjective well-being, social relationships, cognition, physical functioning) than younger and middle-aged adults. Study 2 (N = 166, 20–85 years) showed that older adults’ conceptualizations show less differentiation across domains than those of younger and middle-aged adults’. Results of both studies confirm lifespan notions of multidirectionality (expectations of gains and losses) but also show age-related differences in multidimensionality of developmental conceptions (i.e., differences in expected trajectories between domains). Moreover, results provide evidence that favorable conceptions impact perceived controllability and actual subjective well-being.


GeroPsych ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ljiljana Kaliterna Lipovčan ◽  
Tihana Brkljačić ◽  
Zvjezdana Prizmić Larsen ◽  
Andreja Brajša-Žganec ◽  
Renata Franc

Abstract. Research shows that engagement in leisure activities promotes well-being among older adults. The objective of the current study was to examine the relationship between subjective well-being (flourishing) and leisure activities (total number of different activities in the previous year) in a sample of older adults in Croatia, thereby considering the variables of sex, marital status, financial status, and self-perceived health. The differences in the examined variables between the groups of older adults who reported to be engaged in new activities with those who did not were also examined. The sample of N = 169 older adults aged 60 years and above was drawn from a convenience sample of adult internet users in Croatia. Participants reported their self-perceived health and the number of leisure activities they engaged in over the previous year as well as completing the Flourishing Scale. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that older adults who were engaged in more various leisure activities, who perceived better financial status, and who were married reported higher levels of flourishing. A comparison of the two groups of older adults with and without engagement in leisure activities showed that those engaged in at least one leisure activity were more likely to be women, reported higher levels of flourishing, and perceived their own financial status as better. This study indicated that engaging in leisure activities in later life might provide beneficial effects for the well-being of older adults.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdelhafid Benksim ◽  
Rachid Ait Addi ◽  
Elhassania Khalloufi ◽  
Aziz Habibi ◽  
Mohamed Cherkaoui

Abstract Background As the world’s population ages and people live longer, it seems important to ensure that older people have a good quality of life and positive subjective well-being. The objective of this study is to determine socio-economic, health and nutritional characteristics of institutionalized and non-institutionalized elders in the province of Marrakech. Methods This study was conducted among 368 older adults in the province of Marrakech between March 2017 and June 2019. Of all participants, 180 older adults reside in a public institution and 188 of them live in their own homes. Data on health conditions, nutritional status, functional and socio-economic characteristics were collected. Data was analyzed using SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 16.0. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results Institutionalized elders were illiterate (80.0%), had low incomes (95.5%), and unmarried (73.3%), they reported also no children (56.1%) and no health insurance (98.9%). Institutional residents suffered from malnutrition (22.2%), hearing impairments (35.6%) and severe edentulism (43.3%). There was no significant difference between both groups on daily activities and depression. A multivariate analysis identified a model with three significant variables associated with non-institutionalized elders: health insurance (P = 0.001; OR = 107.49), number of children (P = 0.001; OR = 1.74) and nutritional status (p = 0.001; OR = 3.853). Conclusions This study shows that the institutionalization of older adults is considerably induced by various factors such as nutritional problems, lack of health insurance and family structure. To mitigate the effects of this phenomenon, home care strategies and preventive actions should be implemented to delay the institutionalization of older adults and therefore keep them socially active in their own homes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 169-170
Author(s):  
Brittany Drazich ◽  
Breanna Crane ◽  
Kyle Moored ◽  
Karl Shieh ◽  
Janiece Taylor ◽  
...  

Abstract Due to generational mental illness stigma and under diagnosis of mental illness, older adults do not always receive the mental health help that they need. One unique technology that has the potential to improve mood in older adults is exergames, or exercise video games. The objective of this sub-study (main study: Stimulation With Intricate Movements “SWIM” Study) was to explore older adults’ mood following an exergame intervention called “Bandit the Dolphin,” created by the Johns Hopkins KATA Studio. Researchers conducted three focus groups with 14 community-dwelling older adult participants who took part in the SWIM Study exergame intervention. The semi-structured focus groups were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using deductive and inductive techniques described by Ray Maietta’s “sort and sift, think and shift” method. Three themes related to playing “Bandit the Dolphin” and mood emerged. First, participants described their perceived association between activity and mood. Participants felt that both active and passive activities, “Bandit the Dolphin” and otherwise, improved their mood through the “fun” factor, and through feelings of achievement. Second, the participants described that the competition and frustration of playing “Bandit the Dolphin” increased eventual feelings of achievement. Third, participants described how feelings of immersion, or being absorbed in the game, helped them forget their other life concerns. These findings provide a better understanding of older adults’ perceived relationship between an exergame intervention, “Bandit the Dolphin,” and short-term improved mood. Future health and engineering researchers should explore exergames as a potential tool to improve the mental health of older adults.


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