scholarly journals Vision Impairment: A Psychological Challenge of the Elderly

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.

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.


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 79 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 137-148
Author(s):  
Emilie Joly-Burra ◽  
Elisa Gallerne ◽  
Martial Van der Linden ◽  
Paolo Ghisletta

Abstract. Although personal goals give meaning to life and contribute to well-being, achieving goals can become difficult in older adults faced with age-related challenges. A group of 49 older adults aged 65 to 92 years completed a semistructured interview on personal goals, obstacles to goal achievement, and contributors to well-being. Using thematic analysis, we identified several types of goals contributing to well-being and general aspects of well-being. Results revealed that, although older people might say that they no longer have major goals in their lives, they end up mentioning many activities that theoretically are goals. Many of these activities are geared toward maintaining or increasing their general well-being. Of importance, they report few complaints regarding goal achievement, which they explained by (1) reducing the number and breadth of their goals, (2) adjusting and reevaluating these goals, and (3) overcoming difficulties and stabilizing current functioning, thereby maintaining a sense of continuity and satisfactory levels of well-being. This study illustrates the interactions between resources and stressors from the viewpoint of older adults. Taken together, the results advocate for the usefulness of the functional quality of life model and proactive approaches to successful aging, and they provide directions for individualized interventions in the elderly.


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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (9) ◽  
pp. 883-905 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lili Xie

This study aims to examine the extent to which older adults’ perceptions of environmental age-friendliness are associated with their life satisfaction. We used a national representative sample ( N = 9,965) with elders aged 60 and above from urban China and structural equation modeling to analyze the relationship among community characteristics, socioeconomic status (SES), and life satisfaction. Results showed that older people’s perceptions of housing conditions, local amenities, and social inclusion were significantly associated with general life satisfaction. Multigroup comparison tests indicated that no disparities in the aforementioned relationships among SES subgroups. However, the socioeconomically disadvantaged elderly population was shown to have the lowest assessment of community age-friendliness. Findings emphasized the potential role of age-friendly communities as having an influential force on older adults’ subjective well-being, regardless of their SES. Meanwhile, policy makers and practitioners should pay special attentions to improve the living environments of disadvantaged elders.


Author(s):  
Krishna Ketan Patel ◽  
Mayura Deshmukh ◽  
Tushar Palekar

Background : The geriatric population is defined as population aged 60 years and above. (1)During this age many of the systems undergo deterioration. Balance problems in elderly are most commonly due to multi factorial condition which may include age related or disease-related declines in the balance system. Research shows that altered balance is the greatest collaborator towards falls in the elderly with a high correlation between balance deficit and the incidence of falls. Iyengar yoga, one of the active, or Hatha, yoga techniques, is a system for developing physical and mental well-being through stretching of all muscle groups for strength, flexibility, and physical balance. Yoga as a complementary therapy is thought to be more therapeutic than traditional exercise because it involves active engagement between mind and body. Its practice has been associated with increased muscle strength, endurance, flexibility, range of motion and cardiopulmonary endurance. It mainly works on increasing body awareness and proprioception, which will lead to improvement of balance in older adults. Objectives: To compare pre and post score of Modified Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction in Balance (CTSIB-M). To compare pre and post score of Time up and go test. Materials and Methodology: This was an experimental study that included 40 participants, healthy older adults between the age group 60-75 years, both male and female. The subjects were randomly divided in to 2 groups; Group A was the experimental group whereas group B was the control group. The experimental group was made to perform yogasanas for the duration of four weeks for 5 times a week whereas the control group was not given any intervention. Result and Conclusion: The study conducted concludes that yogasanas are effective in improving balance in elderly individuals at the end of four weeks compared to control group. Thus, it can be used clinically to improve balance in geriatric population.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Kimijanová ◽  
Diana Bzdúšková ◽  
Zuzana Hirjaková ◽  
František Hlavačka

Gait initiation (GI) challenges the balance control system, especially in the elderly. To date, however, there is no consensus about the age effect on the anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs). There is also a lack of research on APAs in older adults after proprioceptive perturbation in the sagittal plane. This study aimed to compare the ability of young and older participants to generate APAs in response to the vibratory-induced perturbation delivered immediately before GI. Twenty-two young and 22 older adults performed a series of GI trials: (1) without previous vibration; (2) preceded by the vibration of triceps surae muscles; and (3) preceded by the vibration of tibialis anterior muscles. The APAs magnitude, velocity, time-to-peak, and duration were extracted from the center of pressure displacement in the sagittal plane. Young participants significantly modified their APAs during GI, whereas older adults did not markedly change their APAs when the body vertical was shifted neither backward nor forward. Significant age-related declines in APAs were observed also regardless of the altered proprioception.The results show that young adults actively responded to the altered proprioception from lower leg muscles and sensitively scaled APAs according to the actual position of the body verticality. Contrary, older adults were unable to adjust their postural responses indicating that the challenging transition from standing to walking probably requires higher reliance on the visual input. The understanding of age-related differences in APAs may help to design training programs for the elderly specifically targeted to improve balance control in different sensory conditions, particularly during gait initiation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-109
Author(s):  
Viléma Novotná ◽  
Iveta Holá ◽  
Kateřina Doležalová

The quality of life of the elderly is becoming a serious problem of contemporary society. Low level of physical literacy of this group of citizens does not encourage their need for exercise, it does not motivate to physical activity and to the change of lifestyle. The aim of the paper is to select and organize the knowledge about the concept and the direction of physical education of older adults and seniors, to define the conceptual content of physical literacy in education, to provide an example of a possible way to differentiate the offer of education for each age category and to present the appropriate proposal of movement and gymnastics programs for a selected population group. As a method of solution of the issue has been selected questionnaire and interval scaling. The questions in questionnaire survey were selected with regard to the appropriateness of defined gymnastic exercises involved in the concept of physical literacy. The questions were answered by 28 experts, university teachers. Descriptive statistics were used for the classification and analysis of the obtained data. The greatest impact responses gained Importance of exercises for correct body posture and basic locomotion were in responses stated as the most important, followed by realisation of the movements of the body and its parts, orientation in space and balance exercises. In the area of knowledge safety of physical activity, the execution of the movement and the importance of prevention and health benefits reached nearly 90%. Into the content of physical literacy of older people and seniors were selected five groups of inventories of gymnastic activities: body posture, locomotion, balance, flexibility and handling skills. Physical education of elderly population should be oriented to the optimal level of health focused fitness, acquiring specific skills, strengthening of resilience, well-being and social cohesion.


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