Published online Mar 22, 2018. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v8.i1.43
Peer-review started: October 31, 2017
First decision: December 8, 2017
Revised: December 19, 2017
Accepted: February 4, 2018
Article in press: February 4, 2018
Published online: March 22, 2018
Processing time: 141 Days and 15.4 Hours
Persons with impairments, such as visual impairment (VI), may be more likely to be seen as different and of lower social rank by peers, and therefore become trapped into an ongoing victimization of bullying. To our knowledge, previous studies of risk of bullying in people with VI are restricted to include convenience samples of children and adolescents.
In order to add to the current knowledge, we conducted a cross-sectional study in the adult population of people with VI, having the following three main aims: (1) To study the lifetime prevalence of bullying, (2) to describe demographic and VI-related factors associated with lifetime bullying, and (3) to examine the association of lifetime bullying with self-efficacy and life satisfaction.
The study was a cross-sectional interview-based survey conducted between February and May, 2017, including an age-stratified probability sample of adults with VI. All participants were recruited through the members list of the Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted. A total of 736 (61%) adults with VI participated by completing the interview.
The lifetime and 6-mo prevalence of bullying was 41.7% and 8.2%, respectively. The rates are greater than what have been found in comparable studies of general Scandinavian populations. The majority of bullied participants (65.1%) reported that bullying was related to their vision loss. Victimization of bullying was associated with young age, early onset-age of VI, and having additional impairments. The findings illustrate that being different in terms of having visual impairment or other impairments in addition to the vision loss put individuals at increased risk of being victimized to bullying. Bullying was negatively associated with self-efficacy [adjusted relative risk (ARR): 0.40, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.19-0.85] and life satisfaction (ARR: 0.68, 95%CI: 0.51-0.91). If bullying was the underlying causal factor, our results suggest that bullying may have profound adverse effects on personality and wellbeing in adult life.
To our knowledge, this is the first research study demonstrating high rates of bullying in people with VI, both in a lifetime perspective and in adult life. Individuals with young age, early onset age of VI, or other additional impairments were at greatest risk of bullying. Most of those who had been exposed perceived that bullying was related to their vision loss. Efforts should be made to increase awareness about this issue in school, social, and working life. Our findings that bulling was negatively related to outcomes of self-efficacy and life satisfaction emphasize the need of professional assistance of those who have been bullied. Universal design and access to professionals who are trained to the needs and challenges of people with VI are recommended.
Our research findings should be supported by population-based cohort studies of individuals with and without VI. Moreover, future research should include longitudinal studies of the risk and impact of bullying in people with VI, especially among those who have lost their vision at birth or during childhood.