Proactive Coping, Optimism, and Resilience among Students with Visual Disabilities

Abstract

Visual disabilities are when an individual experiences significant impairment in vision that cannot be fully corrected with standard glasses, contact lenses, medication, or surgery. Students with visual disabilities face different kinds of challenges in daily life, so they are more prone to psychological problems. To deal with psychological issues, proactive coping is essential. Based on the above rationale, the following objectives have been formulated: To examine the gender difference in optimism, resilience, and proactive coping, and to explore relationships between optimism, resilience, and proactive coping of students with visual disabilities. One hundred and two participants with visual disabilities, aged 18–30, completed the assessment of optimism, resilience, and proactive coping. Mean, SD, t-test, Pearson correlation, and hierarchical regression were computed to analyse the group difference, associations between optimism, resilience, and proactive coping, and contribution of the predictor variables to explain criterion variable. Findings illustrate men students with visual disabilities received significantly higher scores in optimism, resilience, and proactive coping than their women counterparts, and significant positive correlations were found among resilience, optimism, and proactive coping. Optimism and resilience emerged as significant predictors of proactive coping of students with visual disabilities. The study findings suggest that students with visual disability had moderate proactive coping mechanisms. Resilience and optimism facilitate adaptive coping mechanisms required for improving the psychological and mental well-being of students with visual disabilities. The findings provide valuable insights for educators, counsellors, and policymakers aiming to support the well-being and academic success of students with visual disabilities. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.