Subjective Psychological Well-Being in Families with Blind Children: How Can We Improve It?

Abstract

The aim of this work was to examine family well-being in a sample of Spanish families with blind children. Sixty-one participants reported their perceived economic status, the level of job satisfaction, and state-anxiety symptoms. The participants of our study scored higher on state-anxiety and lower on material well-being than the normative sample, although these differences did not reach statistical significance. They also scored higher on job satisfaction and family satisfaction than the general population. A negative correlation was found between state-anxiety and material well-being (r = - 0.62, p = 0.001) and between state-anxiety and family satisfaction (r = - 0.57, p = 0.001). A positive correlation was found between material well-being and job satisfaction (r = 0.40, p = 0.001), and between material well-being and family satisfaction (r = 0.41, p = 0.001). Higher levels of material well-being, job satisfaction, and family satisfaction were associated with lower levels of anxiety in these families. However, no statistically significant correlation was found between family satisfaction and job satisfaction. Our results suggest that the family experience of having a disabled child is evolving, and this implies achieving greater job and family satisfaction than the normative samples, although anxiety scores continue to be higher and material well-being scores remain lower. On the whole, our results confirm that it is necessary to provide these families with more economic resources, which would have a positive impact on their subjective psychological well-being, decreasing their state-anxiety, and increasing their satisfaction with life.

The Influence of Factors Such as Parenting Stress and Social Support on the State Anxiety in Parents of Special Needs Children During the COVID-19 Epidemic

“… Sola-Carmona et al (2016) showed similar results for parents’ state anxiety of blind children: higher material well-being, job satisfaction, and family satisfaction were related to parents’ lower anxiety level. Indeed, compared with the parents of typically developing children, the parents of special needs children make more effort to take care of their children and even sacrifice their job opportunities.…”

Inter‐regional trends in causes of childhood blindness and low vision in Ghana

“…4 Blind children in this region are likely to have high mortality, but those who survive contribute a disproportionate number of blind years of disability 4 which may impact on their psychological, educational and economic development. 5,6 It is estimated that childhood blindness accounts for five to 10 per cent of the national burden of blindness in Ghana, affecting about 0.9 per 1,000 children. 7 The situation is similar in many sub-Saharan countries of Africa because of the inadequacy of facilities and medical personnel to treat and prevent the avoidable causes.…”

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“…Although there is no study on parental visual impairment in the searched literature, it is seen that parents with congenital visually impaired children have high anxiety levels (Sakkalou et. al, 2018;Sola-Carmona et. al, 2016a).…”

“…Although there is no study related to parental visual impairment in the searched literature, it is seen that the level of well-being decreases as the anxiety level increases in parents with congenital visually impaired children (Sola-Carmona et. all., 2013;2016a). In order to have a high level of subjective well-being it is also stated that; being married in first nuptials, perceiving the child's condition as not affecting leisure and perceiving one's health as good are important variables on subjective well-being (Sola-Carmona et.…”