Investigating the mental health and hope of blind people compared to visually impaired

The aim of this study was to investigate the mental health and life expectancy of blind women compared to sighted people. The present research method was descriptive and comparative. The statistical population of the study included blind males and visually impaired women of Tabriz in 1399-1389. The sample of 80 female  was selected in the first stage using the available sampling method (40 blind people and 40 sighted people) and were compared in two independent groups as blind and sighted. The overall health scale (28-GHQ) and life expectancy of Snyder (1991) were completed by the subjects. The data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance. The final results showed that there was no significant difference in the level of life expectancy and dimensions of factor thinking and pathways in the group of blind and sighted (p >0.05). Also, the results showed that there is a significant difference in the level of mental health between the group of blind and sighted subjects (p <0.05). In addition, the results showed that among the dimensions of mental health, only in the dimension of physical symptoms and anxiety and insomnia symptoms, there is a significant difference between blind and sighted groups (p <0.05). According to the results of the study, it can be acknowledged that despite the low level of mental health in blind people, there is no difference in life expectancy between blind and sighted people and the life expectancy of blind people is almost the same as sighted  people due to increased friendships and Family and social networks