It's not just a job: Meaningful work, self-stigma, and life satisfaction in people with visual impairment.

Abstract

Background: Although employment has been positively linked to quality of life, recent theorising suggests the need for a broadened conceptualisation of paid work incorporating dimensions of subjective work experience as a key social determinant of life satisfaction in people with disabilities. There is also a need for further examination on the underlying mechanism between work and wellbeing outcomes amongst people with disabilities.

Objective: In this study, we put forth the concept of meaningful work, and examined its associations with self-stigma, and life satisfaction in people with visual impairment.

Methods: A total of 302 people with visual impairment completed a survey in Hong Kong. We analysed the data using linear regression and mediation analyses.

Results: We found that meaningful work was positively associated with life satisfaction and negatively associated with self-stigma. Self-stigma was negatively associated with life satisfaction and mediated the association between meaningful work and life satisfaction.

Conclusions: The findings showed that meaningful work is a positive and important social determinant of life satisfaction among people with visual impairment, while self-stigma serves as an underlying mechanism.