CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

“Let Problems come from anywhere

Let Solutions come from us”

1.1 Introduction

The present research study entitled “Efficacy of Positive behavior Therapy in

Management of Stress among Working Women with Visual Impairment” encompasses primarily

to study the stress levels and controllability over stress situations encountered by Working

Women with Visual Impairment (WWVI) in their daily routine. This research study further

analyzes the efficacy of Positive Behaviour Therapy (PBT) in reducing stress levels of WWVI

and gaining in control over stressors encountered in their daily life.

The World Health Organization (2000) indicated that an estimate of 40 million persons

in the world today are blind and that there are over 150 million persons worldwide have visual

disability, which requires some form of specialized devices. Dandona & Dandona (2001) stated

that “Women account for 64.5 percentage of the entire population with blindness in the world”.

Women with disabilities, irrespective of their nature of disability are considered to be the

most marginalized assemblage in the Indian society. They are deprived of political, social,

economic and health opportunities. The problems of women with disabilities become very

complex with other factors such as social stigma and poverty. They have been largely neglected

when it comes to research, state policies, the disability and the women’s movements and

rehabilitation programmes, and this has become widely accepted fact in the recent years. Also,

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due to numerous societal standards, they continue to be left out of the decision-making

processes. This reality is especially true of women with disabilities in culture where the role of

the wife and the mother is considered to be the primary role of the female and income generation

through employment ventures holds only the secondary consideration. Although this may seem

to be of minor importance that the pattern of ignoring and isolating disabled women is repeated

throughout the national and international publications and even in websites of people with

disabilities (Indumathi Rao, 2004).

For majority of the people, employment is considered to be a major life activity that

enhances the quality of life, offers financial self-determination, improves self-esteem, giving

feelings of contributing to the society and offers general life satisfaction. This is also true for

WVI (Women with Visual Impairment) where employment is an essential factor in the gaining

of independence, achieving social inclusion and ensuring equal participation in all aspects of life.

Thus, gainful employment is an important means of promoting the social integration of WVI.

1.5. Major Barriers Encountered by Working Women with Visual Impairment.

1.5.1 Discrimination barrier at Work Place

Women in general face discrimination in employment and for WVI, this discrimination is

far greater. In situations where there are high employment opportunities, the remunerative work

tends to be severely limited. When they do find jobs, they receive considerably lower wages. For

instance, even for an industrialized country, studies have shown that a WVI working full-time

earns only fifty six percent of the salary of a full –time employed man with disability. In fact

WVI earn the lowest wages compared to men with disability or women without any disability

(Crudden, et al, 2002)

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1.5.2 Inaccessibility to Physical Environment

In addition to the prejudice and discrimination barrier, the inaccessibility of the physical

environment (e.g., buildings, roads, and transport, toilet facilities) is a serious obstacle to WVI

working outside their homes. For instance, WVI to cope with difficulty of using the public

transport, they wake up early in the morning, to board themselves in the public transport

comfortably. They also leave their offices very late in order to avoid fighting for buses.

However, it is not safe for them to walk very early in the morning or at night as they may be

endangered to issues pertaining to abuse, sexual harassment and violence ( Rumrill, et al, 1997)

1.5.3 Income Generation through Piece-work/Self- Employment

Engaging in piece-work is the most common form of income-generation available to

most of WVI. Examples of piece work by them include labour-intensive and poorly paid

activities such as weaving, sewing, basket-making, the assembling of toys and production of

handicraft items. Due to extreme mobility limits them suffer from obtaining raw materials and

marketing their product themselves, the materials are delivered to their homes and finished

products are collected by the agents. There is no legal or social protection. WVI may be exposed

to unsafe materials and subjected to excessive hours of work under harsh conditions. Even where

WVI have jobs, their rights as workers may be overlooked. Faced with discrimination, denial of

job opportunities and they may be forced to endure oppressive working conditions.

Despite the most optimistic outlook for change in employment opportunities for WVI, the

present reality is the best hope for the productive work enforces to lie on self-employment or

group employment probably on a cooperative basis

1.5.4 Inaccessibility to Assistive Devices

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 In the working sectors whether Government or private institutions they face instances

such as inaccessibility to special aids and assistance. They are not facilitated with writing devices

such as writing frames with stylus, braillers, computers, printers, papers or even the essential

working aids. They have to buy for themselves; some of the tools like braillers are very

expensive and it is difficult for an individual to buy them on their own. Even if they own, the

service centers for such is not the vicinity of their residence or town. Lack of assistive devices

for WVI in working areas is a serious problem and it causes to work under very difficult

conditions (Rumrill, et al, 1997)

1.5.5 Struggle for Promotion

In corporate sectors like men, most of WVI are not promoted to senior positions, even

after updating their qualification. In some instances WVI have struggled by them to advance and

some of them managed to get higher education. Despite these efforts and meeting all

qualifications to get a senior post they were not promoted. Most MVI are also denied for going

on official missions, educational opportunities and training. This limits the chances of

progressing and is also an obstacle in securing senior positions ( Gilbride, et al, 2000)

1.5.6 Exposure to Tribulations due to Attitudinal Interferences

The attitudes prevailing in the work place too proves to be a stressful for WVI. Certain

institutions and departments are not interested in employing those women. This is because they

are presumed to be delicate, dependent not capable of working hard; they need maternity leave

and child care in addition to their disability. Others think it is difficult, burden and expensive to

work with disabled women. This causes employers to lose interest in employing them. Due to

these reasons when WVI appears for an interview, she is not considered for the post. Some of

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them are not even interviewed; instead they are given excuses by the interview panel and

informed to leave. Hence the negative attitude of employers and heads of departments have a

great impact on WVI who attempt to secure employment in government sectors. Some WVI lose

interest and hope for securing jobs in the private institutions. They become tired of

embarrassment they face in interviews and job situations (Lola Manson, 2003)

WVI, especially from the rural areas, are likely to be left out of family interactions and

community activities. In addition they are exposed to social stigma and stereotyping within their

communities, which lead them to feel devalued, isolated and ashamed (Curry, et al, 2009)

1.5.7. Domestic Struggles

Incest is very common in India, WVI are the easy prey of exploitation within the family.

Abandoning WVI is another issue that needs strengthening. The measures required are to prevent

abandoning by creating awareness and to improve homes for them, which are often the centers of

exploitation. At the individual level WVI need personal assistance in various matters, including

walking to and from the office and their regular course of work. The Government is not assisting

people with visual impairment by providing personnel and assistants. They are therefore required

to pay those assistants from their own pockets. Some of them decided to use their relatives to

assist them, but again most of them have experienced problems and sometimes this result in

quarrels within the family.

1.5.8. Barriers Related to Marriage, Divorce & Child Rearing

In India, where marriage is traditionally arranged by families, people with disabilities are

not considered ‘marriage material’ particularly if they are women. Beliefs about the cause of

disability enter the picture when a person’s ‘marriageability’ is considered and when marriage

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negotiations are undertaken. The fate model of disability is quite popular in India. Needless to

say, there are different standards for women and men with disabilities when it comes to their

‘eligibility’ for marriage. If they are considered to be marriageable, they have to undergo the

humiliation of being ‘checked out’ by families of prospective spouses and ‘rejected’ time and

again. There is also an overriding fear that people (especially women) with disabilities will also

produce children with disabilities (Khanna, R, 2004).

WVI or Women with other disabilities were rarely considered to be suitable candidates

for marriage, and that, the divorce rate is higher among women who become disabled than that of

their male counterpart. Most of the married WVI are married to VI spouse or spouse with other

disability and are incidentally married to the sighted person pertaining to education and income

variables. While we may not go as far as to suggest that WVI prospects for marriage is almost

nil, as stated by Boylan (1991), one would have to agree that there are some similarities between

the allusions made is that most of the women are not in any form of relationship. There are few

women who were divorced; however no information was evident that could attribute this to the

onset of blindness or visual impairment, the rest of them was confined to stay single or living

with their family members without appealing for divorce.

When a woman without any disabilities decides to have a child, her friends, family and

doctor will often support her in her decision but women with disabilities often has different

experience. Society thinks that women with disability of any nature cannot be a good mother. If

she cannot fulfill some day-to-day functions without assistance, she may be seen as depriving her

child of a “normal “life. A Woman with disability may be discouraged from having a child. In

fact, some doctors and counselors will suggest aborting the fetus, to sterilize herself or giving up

the child for adoption (Dawn, 2005).

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 When a WVI becomes pregnant and when she starts nursing her baby, she needs more

assistance than usual. She needs a personal assistant to help her in the course of work and also

she needs someone who will be taking care of her baby. At this stage WVI experience a lot of

challenges which impact on their employment opportunities. They are denied official missions,

training and educational opportunities because they are considered very costly. If she is allowed

to go on an official mission, it means she has to go with two assistants. One who needs to take

care of her baby and the other to assist her in the course of her work and guiding her to and fro

from the office, reading for her if her documents is not in Braille or on audio tapes. The system

therefore escapes payment of assistants for WVI by simply denying her the right for training in

the first place.

1.5.9 Other barriers faced by Working Women with Visual Impairment

1.5.9.1 Health Problem and Lack of Health Insurance

There is strong evidence that the incidence of the health problems is high among welfare

recipients (Danziger, Carlson, and Henly, 2001; Siefert et al, 2001; Monotoya et al, 2002), and

that some of this risk is related to the stress of the overt (Schulz et al, 2000). Health problems can

become barriers to leaving poverty (Kneipp 2000, Danziger, Kalil and Anderson 2000; Howitz

and Keker, 2001). Depression, especially, can become a barrier to economic self-sufficiency

(Lehrer, Crittenden and Norr, 2002). Contrary to the expectations, employment has not been

shown to improve the health of single mothers (Baker and North, 1999).

Access to health care is another major issue. WWVI do not have any health insurance

themselves. Studies revealed that most of them have reported problems with access to health

care. Some had been denied medical assistance and only few mentioned the option of getting

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health insurance through their jobs or through their partner’s employment. The position does not

remain the same for WVI when working in private sectors or on daily wage basis. They are

prone to express a fear of losing their coverage, since most of their valuable job opportunities do

not offer health insurance. As their earnings increase, they no longer eligible for certain

programs sudden loss of such supports put them to depression and post-traumatic stress issues

(Schleiter and et al, 2004)

1.5.9.2 Violence and Abuse

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD) was

adopted in 2006 is a landmark convention which, for the first time in history, talks about the

concerns and issues of people with disabilities at a global forum. Article 16 highlights the aspect

of Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse and holds the state responsible to prevent all

forms of exploitation, violence and abuse by ensuring state support and assistance to people with

disabilities. There have been numerous reported cases of sexual abuse and exploitation of WWVI

(Working Women with Visual Impairment) and possibly an equal if not greater number of

unreported cases (Victoria Aidan Mgonela, 2010)

1.5.9.3 Pressures Enforced upon Working Women with Visual Impairment

The transition from education to the workforce is perhaps one of the biggest challenges

faced by WVI, and the society discriminations should not come as a surprise especially in the

labour market where the order of the day is the maximization of utility. Although the government

intervenes and labour laws are constantly being updated; preconceptions, presuppositions, biases

and prejudices still have their way in the work domain (Laura Hershey, 2001)

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 It is worth noting that some WVI have been giving up their employment opportunities

because they are tired of discrimination that was shown to them when they went to report to their

duty stations. Some of them even decide to leave aside their professional careers and become

entrepreneurs in order to earn money and make a peaceful living.

1.5.9.4 Burnout

The frequent outcome of the stress experienced by the individuals at work place is burn

out. Burnout has been defined as a syndrome with three dimensions – emotional exhaustion,

depersonalization and lack of personal accomplishment – that usually occurs among those who

work with people. Emotional exhaustion in the profession happens, when the WVI has a feeling

of tiredness and fatigue and that develops when the emotional energies are drained. As a result

WVI are unable to give their best as they once could or conceived to be performed well.

Depersonalization or cycnism occurs when they do not have positive feeling with their co-

workers and it usually develops in response to over load exhaustion (Leiter & Maslach, 2004).

The lack of personal accomplishment occurs when WVI feel that they no longer help themselves

to learn and grow. In other words their feelings of competence and successful achievement in

relation to their aims and aspirations decrease. Among the three dimensions, emotional

exhaustion represents the basic experience of an individual stress. Thus WWVI in different

professions experience different types of stresses at different level.

1.6. Stress and its Impact

Stress is a dynamic condition, in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity,

constraint or demand related to what an individual desires and how the outcome is perceived by

an individual to be both uncertain and important. No one’s life is free of stress ( Turner R.J and

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Lloyd D.A, 1999). Regardless of how sensible, intelligent or privileged WWVI are, they will be

challenged at times by frustration, changes and conflicts. Stress emerges from negative as well as

positive events. Stress is inescapable as death and taxes.

Stress can cause fatigue, chronic headaches, irritability, changes in appetite, memory loss,

low self esteem, withdrawal, tooth-grinding, cold hands, high blood pressure, shallow breathing,

nervous twitches, lowered sexual drive, insomnia or other changes in sleep patterns, and/or

gastro-intestinal disorders. Other typical symptoms include weight loss, digestive problems, skin

coloration & feeling overly emotional. Stress, thus creates an excellent breeding ground for

illness (Dalal, 1999; Misra & Verma, 1999).

The major stress points that may induce debilitating effects are as follows:

Change: Inflexible attitudes, adherence to strict values and routines, as well as fear of the

unknown, can create undue stress when change challenges one to take risks and to be adaptable.

The better one’s health, the easier is to cope with.

Performance: Thriving on stress connected with the challenge of physical performance or a test

of one’s skills. This is healthy, provided that one must remain confident, and use up the energy

and tension generated by extra demands

Anxiety and fear: negative anticipatory emotions may prolong or amplify the arousal caused by

actual events. They may also gear you up to confront situations that never occur. Psychological

stress can build up and affect physical well-being

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Boredom: lack of stimulus or interest at work, unemployment, or retirement may create

depression, apathy, and stress. Doubts as to whether one individual is needed or valued can lead

to a poor self-image and a sense of alienation.

Grief: Bereavement of loss of partner through divorce or separation can have a deep, prolonged

psychological effect. If grief and anguish remain unresolved, suppressed or unrecognized they

can trigger mental or physical breakdown.

Stress can be either acute or long term. Long term stress is particularly dangerous. A state

of continual stress eventually wears out the body. Because of its effect on immune response,

stress increases susceptibility to illness and slows healing (Davis et al, 2000). According to

Rope Vohra (2001) Stress symptoms includes:

 Nervous reflexes: biting nails, clenching fists, clenching jaw, drumming fingers,

grinding teeth, hunching shoulders, picking at facial skin, picking at skin around finger

nails, tapping feet, touching hair.

 Stress related illnesses: Asthma, back pain, digestive disorders, headaches, migraines,

muscular aches and pains, sexual disorders and skin disorders.

 Mood changes: anxiety, depression, frustration, habitual anger or hostility, helplessness,

hopelessness, impatience, irritability, restlessness.

 Behaviour: aggression, disturbed sleep patterns, doing several things at once, emotional

outbursts, leaving jobs undone, overreactions, talking too fast or too loud.

Stress produces a range of undesirable, expensive and debilitating consequences, which

affects both individuals and organizations. It has become a major contributor to health and

performance problems of individuals and unwanted occurrences and costs for organization.

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Stress can result in a) absenteeism b) turn over c) reduced job involvement d) job dissatisfaction

e) difficulty in maintain interpersonal relationships f) building up negative thoughts.

Stress is one of the major problems affecting people in the modern society. It has serious

and far reaching negative consequence to become a biggest hazard for mental and physical health

of human life. Hence it is essential to help individuals by training them how to manage or deal

with their stress…. A certain amount of stress provides stimulation, but prolonged, unmanaged

stress can cause mental and physical damage in the person affecting his productivity and

performance. In such situation, stress management programs plays a significant role in helping

to adopt a practical approach to life’s problems because Stress is nothing but an attitude towards

problems and the reactions towards them ( Rope Vohra, 2001)

Management of stress is a psycho educational program for dealing with stress in which

individuals are taught to become aware of their appraisal of stressful events (positive, negative,

surmountable, impossible) and to develop methods for more effective coping (e.g. managing

problems efficiently with less stress). Stress management interventions utilize a variety of

techniques, including self-management skills, relaxation training, biofeedback, behavior

modification, cognitive behavior therapy, social support, emotional expressions and physical

activity (such as Yoga). Group and individual stress management interventions helps to improve

coping skills, increase self-confidence and reduce vulnerability to distress (Deborah and et al,

2003)

Hemalatha Natesan (2010) stated that the fast changing mechanized world, stress is

inevitable. People face stress in all phases of life. It is quite important to manage stress without

undergoing any serious physical or psychological damage. Positive Behaviour Therapy (PBT)

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has proved its effectiveness in enhancement of self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, well-being,

self –concept and academic achievement and in the management of stress, anger and anxiety (

Hemalatha Natesan, 2010)

1.7 Rationale of the Study

Disability conditions have many implications in the lives of the affected women

individuals. They have direct and indirect impact on their psychological development as well as

sociological front (Kef.S, 2002).

Three types of implications are normally caused because of disability.

 Firstly, the disability itself causes emotional upset.

 Secondly, it is important to know in what aspects it affects the personality traits of

the disabled women. Psychological aspects such as intimacy, success, autonomy

and self-expression, self-worthiness, etc. are affected as a result of disability

conditions.

 Thirdly it is necessary to know to what extent the psychological implications have

impact on the sociological factors such as family acceptance, social integration, etc.

The development of psychosocial adjustment of the women with disability,

emotional maturity and dependability will make them eligible for acceptance by

society for meaningful living.

WVI are the most vulnerable group in the society. They are often under- educated,

untrained, unemployed and poor. They are victimized to unsocial incidences such violence,

harassment, tortures, rape and poor health conditions. They face many obstacles in their

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 struggle for equality. Rehabilitation International factsheet (1997) states that “For women in

any society, having a disability signifies dependency, weakness, loss of status and relegation to

an unproductive, asexual role in the community

Although men and women with disabilities are subjected to discrimination because of their

disabilities, women are at a further disadvantage because of combined discrimination based on

gender and disability . Women who are blind or low vision must face the constant challenges

of psychologically and socially adjusting to their disability, adjusting to their spouse, in-laws,

children and co-workers in the working sectors. Adjustment is the process of responding to

life’s demands and stresses. The present day life pattern forces WWVI to face adjustments

both in domestic and work situations in liberal.

The recent trend in education is that more women are receiving tertiary education than

male. The prevailing situation among persons who receive higher education subsequent to

becoming visually impaired is that the converse obtains; that is, more males are recipients of

higher education than females. High unemployment has been a problem, with which a number of

developing countries have to grapple. In more times than not, resources are so scarce that very

little is available to facilitate the generation of employment opportunities. Often times, people

have to create their own employment in order to survive. Given this situation, one can imagine

how difficult it would be to obtain gainful employment in these circumstances and it would be

even more so for persons who are considered to be different by virtue of the fact that they have a

disability and it elevates if it is with Women (Lola Morson, 2003).

Women who are blind or visually impaired tend to experience “double negative” public

attitudes, meaning they are subject to stereotypes about people with visual disabilities and public

stereotypes regarding gender. Women who are blind or visually impaired reported being

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underestimated in terms of job skills (Corn, Muscella, Cannon & Shelper, 1985). Employers

also harbour unfounded fears of higher accident rates, poor punctuality, increased costs, poor

attendance and low productivity (Silape, 1994)

According to Crowd (2003) in discussing about the various studies related to psycho

social health conditions and well-being of women with disabilities has highlighted the following

aspects:

 Stress constitutes more of a problem for women with disabilities than for non-disabled

women.

 Many women with disabilities reported problems with stress. One study suggested that

elevated stress levels were related to architectural barriers in the home and employment

environments, problems with personal assistance, and problems with transportation

services.

 According to one analysis, the more functional limitations a woman had the more likely

she reported having difficulties with stress. This difficulty with stress seemed to be more

of a problem for working age women than for women over 45 years of age.

 Women with disabilities who report a combination of social isolation, lack of social

support, pain, and experiencing abuse in the past year are more likely to report high

levels of stress. In addition, high levels of stress are linked with high levels of depression.

 Like all women, women with disabilities are more likely than men to experience life

stress related to poverty, violence and other forms of victimization, and chronic health

problems.

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  Women with disabilities are faced with stressors, such as the uncertainty of their

underlying health condition, barriers to health care, unemployment, and lower wages.

Other disability-related stressors include increased time and effort to accomplish basic

activities.

 Women with disabilities are vulnerable to developing secondary conditions associated

with stress, such as fatigue, depression, and cardiovascular problems, including

hypertension and problems with overweight.

 Although a few stress reduction interventions have been developed for people with

disabilities, until recently, little research has been conducted on the techniques for self-

management of stress specific for women with disabilities.

There is a very famous saying, which says: he who feels it knows it. Leaders and persons

designing projects who subscribe to this saying will very often make an attempt to involve the

persons for whom the project was intended. In situations having to do with blind and visually

impaired women, however, the converse usually obtains. That is, blind and visually impaired

women are rarely ever consulted on matters having to do with themselves in general and they

almost never occupy leadership positions in organizations. So much so that none of the literature

consulted so far has really focused on blind and visually impaired women in leadership positions.

Webson, (1997) in support of this argument, made the point that organizations for blind people

all too often exclude them from decision-making. He further stated that “Blind women receive

the fewest opportunities and the least opportunity for regional interaction”

O.Toole (2001) in an article made the point that: Women with disabilities do the daily

work of keeping the mainstream disability organizations alive and functional, while fundraising,

organizing and networking to achieve opportunities and services critical for women with

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disabilities; however, they are less likely to be top leaders or to have a salaried position for their

work”

Women increasingly report more depressive symptoms than men through the life course

as their status positions widen. Divorce is also associated with depression, especially for women;

because of the financial strain it produces (Umberson, Wortman & Kessler, 1992). Woman is in

fair or poor health and does not have health insurance (The Lighthouse, Inc., 2003). Life events

and pressures of everyday life in work situation are prone to have forceful impact on health of

WWVI.

1.8. Need for the Study

At this Juncture, the need to identify life events or environmental triggers has to be given

importance because early detection and control of the stressors help in preventing major

degenerative diseases. Stress will never be out of working women lives completely, nor do they

want it to be. There are some positive aspects of the stress that they can keep so that they can

energize, motivate and excite themselves. On the other hand, the negative aspects of the stress

they will be able to learn how to manage and/or do away with. This highlights the importance of

management of stress.

Although a few stress reduction interventions have been developed for people with

disabilities, until recently, little research has been conducted on the techniques for self-

management of stress specific for women with disabilities. One current study involves a stress

self-management program for women with physical disabilities. This program emphasizes goal

setting, problem-solving, and relaxation training (Crowd, 2010). Further many training is

available for general population whereas intensive training was not given / neglected for WVI

precisely.

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 PBT is assumed to be one way of overcoming problems related to stress in the target

study group WWVI irrespective of national variations as it combines the Eastern Techniques of

Yoga and Western Techniques of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. These techniques are easy to

follow and it certain to fit in this fast living world. According to Hemalatha Natesan (2010) BPT

is helpful in for person with problems such as fear, anxiety, anger, stress, inferiority, depression,

insomnia, pain, adjustment problems, marital problems etc.

With these surface details a detailed study on management of stress among WWVI was

undertaken to find out the effect of PBT in influencing the WWVI to reduce their stress levels

and gain control over stress prone situations to promote the sense of worthy living and to set a

positive example of one, to acquire adjustment skills at par, to exercise one’s rights and duties

effectively, to be competent enough to establish good psycho-social adjustments and to live

independently with confidence.

1.9. Statement of the Problem

The problem of the current research is stated as “Efficacy of Positive Behaviour

Therapy in Management of Stress among Working Women with Visual Impairment”.

1.10 Operational Definition:

The operational definition of the terms used in the study is as follows:

Visual Impairment

 Blindness

According to PWD Act (1995) Blindness refers to a condition where a person suffers from any

of the following conditions:

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  Total absence of sight; or

 Visual acuity not exceeding 6/60 or 20/200 (Snellan) in the better eye even with

correction lenses; or

 Limitation of the field of vision subtending to angle of 20 degree or worse.

 Low Vision

According to WHO (1992) “A person with Low vision is one who has impairment of

visual functioning even after treatment and/or visual functioning even after treatment and/or

standard refractive correction and has a visual acuity of less than 6/18 to light perception or a

visual field of less than 10 degrees from the point of fixation but who uses or is potentially able

to use vision for the planning and/or execution of a task.”

The investigator selected both totally blind and low as samples following purposive

sampling technique.

Working Women with Visual Impairment

In this study working women with visual impairment refers to women who are blind and

low vision in the age group of twenty years to sixty years working in the mainstream or

institutions of Government / Private Sectors.

In this study the Government or Private sectors refers to institutions were WWVI are

temporarily employed as technicians, trainers, clerical staff, assistants, multi-task assistants, co-

workers, unskilled labourers and as daily wage workers

Stress:

Stress refers to any environmental, organizational and individual or internal demands,

which require the individual to readjust the usual behavior pattern. It is also described as posing

threat to the quality of life as well as physical and psychological well-being (Kroemer, 2001)

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 In this study the type of stress such as mild moderate and severe were taken into

consideration experienced by WWVI

Management of Stress:

Management of stress refers to the wide spectrum of techniques or therapies used by

health professional and others, which may help an individual to reduce their levels of stress,

provide positive feelings of control over one’s life and promote general well-being, for the

purpose of improving every day functioning (Woolfolk & Lehrer, 2000)

PBT was given to WWVI for effective management of stress

Positive Behaviour Therapy (PBT)

The Positive Behaviour Therapy (PBT) pertaining to the present study refers to the

intervention training package which combines the Eastern Techniques of Yoga and Western

Techniques of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy that is given to Working Women with Visual

Impairment. The Positive behavior Therapy focuses on five major strategies (Hemalatha

Natesan, 2004). They are

 Relaxation Therapy: Comprises of practices such as Deep Breathing Exercise,

Relaxation Training, Directions, Auto Suggestion and Post Relaxation Suggestion given

to develop a psycho-physically relaxed state.

 Positive Image Therapy : is given to the participants who finds it difficult to face a

situation or a person

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  Counseling : Comprises of techniques such as appealing to reason, Stopping negative

thoughts, instilling positive thought, stopping symptoms of stress/Anxiety and Training in

Assertiveness

 Exercises: Comprises of exercises such as Tension releasing exercise, Smile Therapy

and Laugh Therapy to help people to get rid off their tension and develop a cheerful state.

 Behaviour Assignments: Comprises of behavioural assignments given to the

participants to ensure continuity in PBT.

In this study the investigator followed all the five PBT strategies to overcome /reduce

stress encountered among selected WWVI.

1.11. Objectives of the Study

The objectives of the study are to:

 Find out the level of stress before and after introduction of PBT.

 Compare the pre and post-test mean scores of stress with respect to age, nature of

impairment, and income status.

 Study the influence of age, nature of impairment, educational qualification, income

status, and employment sector, type of employment, marital status and violence

encountered on stress level.

 Examine the level of controllability over stress before and after introduction of PBT.

 Compare the pre and post means of controllability over stress with respect to age, nature

of impairment, educational qualification, income status, employment sector, type of

employment, marital status and violence encountered.

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  To study the influence of age, nature of impairment, educational qualification, income

status, employment sector, type of employment, marital status and violence encountered

on the level of controllability over stress at pre and post intervention separately

 To study the influence of age, nature of impairment, educational qualification, income

status, employment sector, type of employment, marital status and violence encountered

on stress level by considering the respective pre scores as covariates

 To study the influence of age, nature of impairment, educational qualification, income

status, employment sector, type of employment, marital status and violence encountered

on level of controllability over stress by considering the respective pre scores as

covariates

1.12 Hypotheses

The null hypotheses proposed for the present study are as follows:

 There is no significant difference in the stress level before and after introduction of PBT

 There is no significant difference in the pre and post mean scores of stress level with

respect to selected variables (age, nature of impairment and income status) before and

after introducing PBT.

 There is no significant influence of selected variables on stress level

 There is no significant difference in the level of controllability over stress before and

after introduction of PBT.

 There is no significant difference in the pre and post mean scores of level of

controllability over stress with respect to age, nature of impairment, educational

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 qualification, type of employment Sector, type of employment, income status, marital

status and violence encountered before and after introducing PBT

 There is no significant influence of age, nature of impairment, educational qualification,

and type of employment sector, type of employment, income status, marital status and

violence encountered on stress level by considering the respective pre scores as covariate.

 There is no significant influence of age, nature of impairment, educational qualification,

type of employment Sector, type of employment, income status, marital status and

violence encountered on level of controllability over stress by considering the respective

pre scores as covariate.

1.13 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study is very wide and are given below

 This study promotes a change in the stereotypic attitudes of the society and should

enhance acceptance and creating positive environment for WWVI.

 The study anticipates self awareness among WWVI to know their potential to lead

healthy life with positive self-esteem and develop tolerance to face stress prone situations

without any difficulty.

 This study is expected to help the organizational professionals to overcome the

incidences of burn out, lower job productivity and physical exhaustion at work place and

to promote capacity building of working women with disability.

 The outcome of the study is expected to increase the awareness of the stakeholders on the

potential abilities of WVI to make decisions in various sectors and acceptance of that

decision.
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  This study ensures the need for facilitating training in personality development, work site

experiences and welfare issues pertaining to unique needs and to enhance positive

psycho-social environment for WWVI at their work place.

1.14 Delimitations of the study

The delimitation of the present study are as follows:

 The total numbers of the participants are limited to 100 WWVI confined to

Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchirapalli Districts of Tamil Nadu state

only.

 The permanent teachers /senior and junior professionals working in Government

sectors were not included in the study.

 This study is restricted to WWVI only and not with other disability.

 Research studies pertaining to issues related to Women with Disabilities, Levels of

stress experienced by WWVI and controllability of stress situations by them are

very limited.

1.15. Organization of the Thesis

The researcher has organized the research study into five chapters and the details of the

chapters are as follows:

CHAPTER I - Chapter I deals with introduction proceeds with barriers encountered by

WWVI, conceptual framework of the study, rationale of the study, statement of the problem,

operational terms used , objectives and hypothesis proposed, scope and de-limitations of the

study.

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CHAPTER II – This chapter deals with the review of literature pertaining to the major areas

related to the present research topic.

CHAPTER III – In this chapter, the methodology employed for the study is explained with the

research design, sampling technique, research tools, implementation of PBT and data gathering

and analysis procedures

CHAPTER IV – Chapter IV provides the results under two sections and made interpretations

followed by discussion.

CHAPTER V – The major findings, discussion, Effectiveness of PBT and further suggested

research and recommendations and conclusions are reported in this chapter.

The reference section presents the details of bibliography and appendices.

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