Loneliness in young adults with a visual impairment: Links with perceived social support in a twenty-year longitudinal study.

Background: Young people with disabilities are more at risk of experiencing loneliness in later life than their typically developing peers.

Aim: To identify those who become lonely in later life, trajectories of perceived parent and peer support from adolescence to adulthood of young people with a visual impairment were studied.

Methods: A total of 316 adolescents (M = 18 years; SD = 6.

Improving social participation of adolescents with a visual impairment with community-based mentoring: results from a randomized controlled trial.

The efficacy of a community-based mentoring program for adolescents with a visual impairment vs. care-as-usual was tested on social participation including satisfaction with social support. Adolescents (15-22 years; 46% boys) were randomized to an intervention group with mentors with visual impairment ( = 25), an intervention group with mentors without visual impairment ( = 26), or care-as-usual ( = 25).

Does having a similar disability matter for match outcomes?: A randomized study of matching mentors and mentees by visual impairment.

Mentoring is modestly effective for youth with a chronic illness or physical disability; however, program effectiveness may be enhanced when mentors and mentees are matched on shared interests and experiences. To test this hypothesis, mentees were randomly assigned to having a mentor with or without visual impairment (VI). Results showed that mentors without VI were younger and more likely to work or be educated in a helping profession and less likely to have a fixed mindset and extremely high positive expectations than mentors with VI.

Testing the effectiveness of a mentoring intervention to improve social participation of adolescents with visual impairments: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Social participation is challenging for people with visual impairments. As a result, on average, social networks are smaller, romantic relationships formed later, educational achievements lower, and career prospects limited. Adolescents on their way towards achieving these goals may benefit from the knowledge and experience of adults who have overcome similar difficulties.