Everyday Competence in Visually Impaired Older Adults: A Case for Person-Environment Perspectives

In this article, the need for an explicit consideration of the environment in order to address everyday competence (EC) in old age is illustrated based on an analysis of the day-to-day challenges of visually impaired older adults. Data are based on a sample of elderly adults suffering from different degrees of visual impairment (visually severely impaired vs blind, each N = 42) and a control group of visually unimpaired elderly persons (N = 42) with age means between 74.9 and 76.8 years. Findings underscore that: (a) EC, regarded as an outcome, is negatively affected by low person-environment fit in the home environment in visually impaired older adults but not in the visually unimpaired elderly population; (b) EC, understood as daily compensatory processes, is more pronounced in the visually impaired with respect to some compensation modes (e.g., use of latent skills), but not all; and (c) EC, as a predictor variable for outdoor behavior, assumes a particularly critical role when outside environmental press is high.