The effects of social support on daily stress and mental health of visually impaired people

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between social support (SS) and daily stress on the mental health of visually impaired people. In order to examine the effect of reciprocity and network size of SS on mental health and daily stress, visually impaired people (n=44) responded to the Stress Check List for the Visually Impaired People (SCLVI), the modified SSQ9 and the GHQ. We also compared the link between SS and mental health to that of sighted people. The results indicated that visually impaired people with reciprocal relationships feel less daily stress in conflicting situation than those with other types of relationships. In addition, sighted people with larger networks have better mental health, but no such direct connection was found in visually impaired peopled.