A Comparative Study to Assess the Psychosocial Health of the Blind and General Students in the Selected Blind and General Schools, Kolkata

Indrani Mandal; Gita Purkait

Indrani Mandal MSc Psychiatric Nursing Student, Insti tute of Psychiatry-Centre of Excellence, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
Gita Purkait Guide, Acting Principal cum Associate Professor, Institute of Psychiatry-Centre of Excellence, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

Keywords: Psychosocial Health, Assess, Blind Students, General Students, Comparative Study

Abstract

Introduction: Blindness is an impairment of a vital sense organ of the body that causes difficulties in the daily living activities of a person. In the majority, it may affect the mental, emotional, social and spiritual health of the people suffering from blindness.
Methodology: A descriptive survey approach with a comparative research design was selected to carry out this study. Total enumeration and random sampling technique were used for 51 blind and 51 general students, respectively. Data were collected using a self-structured proforma along with the sociodemographic profile and psychosocial health scale with 10 and 34 items, respectively, through an interview schedule.
Result: The study revealed that no general students were more than 17 years of age, as against 31% of blind students. 90% of blind participants had blindness since birth, and 10% since childhood. 37% and 2% of blind, whereas, none and 69% of general students showed below and above-average levels of psychosocial health respectively. Domain-wise correlation (mental, emotional, social, spiritual health) of blind and general students were 0.82/0.39; 0.6/0.45; 0.59/0.47; 0.57/0.53; 0.57/0.55; 0.49/0.57, respectively with evidence of t values: 10.05/2.98; 5.26/3.53; 5.16/3.71; 4.85/4.41; 4.83/4.62; 3.92/4.91, respectively, i.e. positively correlated homogenous groups. Domain-wise mean (16.39, 14.18, 16.31, 7.09) of general were higher than blind i.e. 7.84, 7.31, 12.33, 3.71; which indicated significant differences as evidenced by t values - 13.19, 11.54, 6.17, 7.88. Psychosocial health had no association with sociodemographic variables.
Conclusion: The study concluded that most of the blind students experience lower levels of psychosocial health than the general students. It is recommended that special care needs to be taken of every aspect of health for this group of people from their childhood or the starting period of blindness by family, and institutional and societal caregivers to maintain the best level of psychosocial health.

How to cite this article:
Mandal I, Purkait G. A Comparative Study to Assess the Psychosocial Health of the Blind and General Students in the Selected Blind and General Schools, Kolkata. Int J Nurs Midwif Res. 2024;11(1):12-20.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/2455.9318.202403

References

Lepcha MO. Mental health of visually impaired students in relation to their academic achievement. Int J Educ Psychol Res. 2018 Jun;7(2):33-6.

ETV Bharat English Team. Prevention of blindness week India 2024 - making people aware about ‘vision’ [Internet]. ETV Bharat; [cited 2024 Feb 21]. Available from: https://www.etvbharat.com/en/!offbeat/prevention-of-blindness-week-india-2024-makingpeople-aware-about-vision-enn24033103241

Nigam R. A study to assess the psychosocial and coping problems of visually impaired from selected blind institutions of Indore. Int J Sci Res. 2017;6(6):1245-8.

Wadegaonkar A, Uplane M. Comparative study of social skills in sighted and visually impaired adolescents. Int Educ Res J. 2016 Jul; 2(7):39-42.

Panday R, Srivastava P, Fatima N, Kiran M, Kumar P. Depression, anxiety and stress among adolescent girls with congenital visual impairment. J Disabil Manag Rehabil. 2015 Jul;1(1):21-4. [Google Scholar]

Salleh MN, Jelas MZ, Zainal K. Assessment of social skills among visually impaired students. Int J Learn Annu Rev. 2011;17(12):89-96.

Ishtiaq R, Chaudhary MH, Rana MA, Jamil AR. Psychosocial implications of blindness and low vision in students of a school for children with blindness. Pak J Med Sci. 2016;32(2):431-4. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Kumar S, Singh J. Emotional intelligence and adjustment among visually impaired and sighted school students. Asian J Multidimens Res. 2013 Aug;2(8):1-8. [Google Scholar]

Jacob J, Shetty AP. A descriptive study to assess the psychosocial problems and coping strategies of blind children. IOSR J Pharm. 2015 Jul;5(7):13-7. [Google Scholar]

Pinquart M, Pfeiffer JP. Psychological well-being in visually impaired and unimpaired individuals: a metaanalysis. Br J Vis Impair. 2011;29(1):27-45. [Google Scholar]

Sharma S, Sigafoos J, Carroll A. Challenging behaviour among Indian children with visual impairment. Br J Vis Impair. 2002 Jan;20(1):4-6. [Google Scholar]

Tarannum M, Khatoon N. Self-esteem and emotional stability of visually challenged students. J Indian Acad Appl Psychol. 2009;35(2):245-66. [Google Scholar]

Masini PL. [The biopsychosocial approach in medicine] [Internet]. Pier Luigi Masini; 2016 Feb 1 [cited 2019 Nov 6]. Available from: http://www.pierluigimasini.it/2016/02/01/lapproccio-biopsicosociale-inmedicina/. Italian.

Mitchell G. Biopsychosocial model: definition & example [Internet]. Study.com; [cited 2024 Feb 10]. Available from: https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-the-biopsychosocial-model-definitionexample.html