Perceived social support and academic resilience as predictors of psychological distress and wellbeing among students with disabilities in the University of Education, Winneba

Abstract

Students with impairment whether physical, sensory or intellectual face challenges in their quest to have inclusive education predisposing them to various stressors. Yet, studies have rarely explored this important psychological construct. This cross-sectional study assessed the prevalence of psychological distress and how perceived social support and academic resilience predict distress in this population. A total of 101 students with hearing, visual and physical impairments were purposively sampled and administered questionnaires that measured psychological distress, social support and academic resilience. Results revealed the prevalence of psychological distress was 75.5%. Also, perceived social support (β = −0.25, p < 0.01) and academic resilience (β = −0.34, p < 0.001) significantly predicted psychological distress with perseverance (β = −0.51, p < 0.001) being the only dimension of academic resilience that predicted psychological distress. This study concludes that students with impairments have a high prevalence of psychological distress, which can be reduced through social support and resilience building interventions at both individual and group levels. We recommend that these counselling interventions be provided for students with impairment to help them deal with the challenges or stressors they encounter.