Disability affirmation and acceptance predict hope among adults with physical disabilities

Positive disability identity has been proposed as a protective factor against disability-related stressors. Personal disability identity (PDI) refers to positive self-concept as a person with a disability. The most widely used measure of PDI captures disability affirmation and disability acceptance (Hahn & Belt, 2004). The current study examined the association between PDI (i.e., acceptance and affirmation) and hope (i.e., pathways and agency). Hope is defined as a process of thinking about one's goals, including motivation to pursue goals (agency) and ways to achieve goals (pathways; Snyder et al., 1991).

One hundred eighty-six adults with physical disabilities completed an online cross-sectional questionnaire measuring PDI, hope, personal factors, and impairment-related factors.

Findings from multiple linear regression indicated that agency was predicted by both disability acceptance (p < .001) and disability affirmation (p < .001), after accounting for personal and impairment factors. Presence of multiple disabilities was also found to be negatively associated with agency (p = .001). Pathways was predicted by disability acceptance (p < .001) but not disability affirmation (p = .17), after accounting for personal and impairment factors. The regression model on agency explained 50% of the variance in agency scores, a moderate effect; the model on pathways explained 36% of the variance in pathways scores, a moderate effect. Internal consistency of all instruments was supported and confirmatory factor analyses supported the use of the PDI subscales.

By introducing hope as a correlate of disability acceptance and disability affirmation, this study provides support for the role of disability identity in promoting well-being (e.g., agency and pathways) among adults with physical disabilities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).