Quality Of Life of Persons with Sensory Impairments

1 Melani Mihocek *

2 Ana Marija Hošnjak

1 Student at the University of Applied Health Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia

2 University of Applied Health Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia

keywords: sensory impairment, quality of life

Abstract

Introduction. Quality of life is a multidimensional concept that includes social, affective, cognitive, and physical domains. people with disabilities include persons with sensory impairments, i.e., the visually impaired, the blind, the hard of hearing, the deaf, and the deafblind. Their diagnosis is a real challenge in

everyday life because it hinders them from gather- ing visual and auditory information from the environ- ment. This affects their abilities and interaction with others, which affects their quality of life.

Aim. To examine how sensory impairment is related to the quality of life and activities of daily functioning.

Methods. The research was conducted using a questionnaire completed by 57 respondents diagnosed with deafness, hearing impairment, low vision, blindness, and deafblindness. data were collected online, using the snowball method from members of the Association of the blind, Association of the deaf, and Association of the deafblind. The survey consisted of two parts: the first part consisted of general demographic questions, while the second part consisted of selected questions from the WHoQol-bref quality of life questionnaire where respondents marked their answers on a five-point likert scale.

Results. by calculating the mean of all quality of life issues, the results showed that deaf people are the most satisfied with their quality of life, followed by the hard of hearing, visually impaired, and blind people. deafblind people are the most dissatisfied with the quality of life.

Conclusion. There is a significant difference in the quality of life of people with sensory impairment depending on the category of impairment. The analysis of the results showed a difference in the quality of life concerning the diagnosis of sensory impairment and that people with deafblindness consider their quality of life the worst.