Predictors of depression and life satisfaction in visually impaired people

Daily Functionality of People with Low Vision: The Impact of Visual Acuity, Depression, and Life Orientation-A Cross-Sectional Study

Background

Low vision (LV) has a significant negative impact on the activities of daily life as well as on the psychological health of patients.

Objectives

The objective of this study is to investigate psychological, clinical, and demographic factors that may impact the daily functionality of patients with LV.

Methods

A convenience sample of 53 patients, meeting the WHO criteria for LV, was recruited. Questionnaires on daily functionality, depression, and life orientation (in terms of optimism/pessimism) were administered along with a semistructured personal interview. Key Findings. The main results revealed a significant negative correlation between daily functionality and depression (r = -0.423, p < 0.001). Conversely, there is a positive correlation between daily functionality and visual acuity (r = 0.415, p < 0.001), while years since diagnosis were negatively correlated with depression (r = -0.345, p < 0.001). Depression seems to be a moderate predictor of a person's daily functionality (β = -0.389, p < 0.002), followed by visual acuity (β = -0.344, p = 0.006), explaining the 31.1% of the total variance.

Conclusions

The study supports a correlation between daily functionality and both depression and visual acuity. Optimism as a personality characteristic did not factor into the prediction model for daily functionality, but it showed a strong correlation with lower levels of depressive symptoms. This highlights the potential for developing coping strategies for chronic disease management. Recommendations. The study could serve as a useful guide and may urge clinicians to pay attention to the psychological evaluation of these patients, supporting their unique emotional needs. Mental health professionals can use patients' positive resources to provide appropriate counseling and embrace the coping skills that encourage their engagement in activities of daily life.

Quality of Life and Related Outcomes Among Unpaid Caregivers of Older Adults With Visual Impairment

Caregivers of older adults with visual impairments are often family members who spend many hours caring for loved ones at the expense of their personal needs. The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of life of unpaid caregivers of older adults with visual impairments and determine the barriers and facilitators for improving their quality of life. To examine this population, 130 unpaid caregivers of older adults with visual impairments were surveyed using the Satisfaction with Life Scale, Living Arrangement and Indicators of Social Interaction Survey, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Caregiver Quality of Life (EQ-5D), and the Perceived Change Index (PCI). Results revealed that the unpaid caregivers face many challenges, but inexperience/difficulty with tasks and balancing their personal life were the biggest obstacles. Interventions could help improve quality of life and well-being as well as provide support services and access to community resources to reduce the family caregiver burden.

Mastery and self-esteem mediate the association between visual acuity and mental health: a population-based longitudinal cohort study

BACKGROUND

With deteriorating eyesight, people often become dependent on others for many aspects of their daily lives. As a result, they feel less 'in control' and experience lower self-esteem. Lower sense of mastery and self-esteem are known to predict depression, but their roles in people with visual impairment have only marginally been investigated. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the influence of mastery and self-esteem on the relationship between visual acuity and mental health.

METHODS

A longitudinal cohort study was performed using data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA), collected between 2001 and 2012. A community-based population of 2599 older adults were included, who were randomly selected from population registers. Outcomes of interest were the Pearlin Mastery Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression scale and the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale - Anxiety subscale. Linear mixed models were used to establish the association between visual acuity and mental health over time.

RESULTS

Mean age was 72 years, 56% was female and 1.2% qualified as having low vision. Visual impairment was associated with a lower sense of mastery (β = - 0.477, p < 0.001), lower self-esteem (β = - 0.166, p = 0.008) and more depression (β = 0.235, p < 0.001). No significant association between visual acuity and anxiety was found. The relationship between visual acuity and depression was mediated by self-esteem (25%) and sense of mastery (79%).

CONCLUSIONS

Vision loss was associated with depression. This association was mediated by self-esteem and sense of mastery. This provides us with new possibilities to identify, support and treat those at risk for developing depression by aiming to increase their self-esteem and sense of mastery.