Adaptation to Chronic Vision Impairment

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine whether race had a significant, unique impact on adaptation to a common late-life impairment, age-related vision loss, after accounting for sociodemographic, health, functional disability, and personal and social resource variables. Older visually impaired African American ( n = 61) and Caucasian ( n = 488) applicants for vision rehabilitation service were interviewed in their homes. The results demonstrated that race accounted for unique variability in the domain-specific indicator of adaptation to age-related vision loss. The results support the importance of further work examining race differences in adaptation to specific chronic impairments in later life.