Subjective well-being of visually impaired older adults living in the community.

OBJECTIVES: Vision impairment is one of the most common disabilities among older adults, and it has a substantial impact on well-being. The present study constructs an integrative model to identify which variables derived from four dimensions of life (physical/functional, social, psychological and environmental) combined with sociodemographic variables explain the overall subjective well-being (SWB) visually impaired older adults living in the community.

METHOD: A total of 121 severe visually impaired persons, aged 60 and over (M = 77.4, range 60-95), participated in the study. Personal, face-to-face interviews were conducted with participants at social centers or at their homes. Research tools consisted of valid and reliable questionnaires.

RESULTS: Five variables explained the older adults' variability in SWB: self-rated health, sense of meaning in life, functional independence in activity of daily living (ADL), sense of control of one's environment (Mastery) and the participant's age. The explained variance percentage was found to be high (61%). In contrast to expectations, social-environmental variables proved to be only of secondary significance in explaining SWB variability.

DISCUSSION: Variables derived from the psychological dimension appear more significant than the social-environmental variables in explaining SWB among visually impaired older adults. These variables should be considered when developing intervention programs intended to increase SWB within this unique population group.