Vision Impairment, Late Life Adjustment and Rehabilitation

Individual Differences

It should first be mentioned that adaptation to vision loss has been defined via multiple outcome variables, with the most widely utilized including psychological well-being and depressive symptomatology. Variables measuring vision rehabilitation are sometimes used as outcome variables (e.g., completing a rehabilitation program or showing change in functional ability after rehabilitation), yet they are also used as predictors of successful adaptation. Many factors have been found to have an association with adaptation to vision loss, including sociodemographic characteristics, vision and comorbid health status, level of functional disability, personal resources, and social resources.

While age and gender have not been shown to have significant associations with adaptation to vision loss, there is some evidence that higher education is related to better adaptation (e.g., Reinhardt, 1996). Interestingly, the level of severity of the impairment in terms of functional vision problems, not the objective level of vision loss (e.g., acuity) has been shown to be significantly associated with adaptation (Horowitz et al., 1994). Generally, many older persons dealing with age-related vision loss often have comorbid, chronic health conditions such as arthritis, trouble with blood pressure or circulation, or heart conditions (Horowitz et al., 1994). Research has shown that having better self-rated health status and lower vision loss severity are also related to better adaptation to vision loss (Horowitz et al., 1994; Reinhardt, 1996, 2001). Further, this research also shows that the level of functional disability, which is the result of both vision loss and comorbid health conditions, is also significantly associated with adaptation to vision loss.

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