ABSTRACT
Person with disabilities is considered to have mental, physical or intellectual limitations. Hence, these limitations made other people tend to judge them negatively and experience difficulties to build any social connection and negatively affect their psychological well-being. This research aims to identify the psychological well-being of people with physical disabilities related to their autonomy, personality development, environmental mastery, positive relation with others, purpose in life and self-acceptance. This preliminary study used sequential two-phase explanatory mixed method design with the goal of identifying suitable strategies to address their well-being. The approach begins with quantitative data collection, followed by qualitative data to explain and enrich the quantitative findings. In the first phase, quantitative data was performed using self-report questionnaires to collect data from 228 disabled people. The second phase utilised in-depth interviews with 6 physically disabled persons to enrich the findings by exploring their views on psychological well-being. The quantitative result confirms that psychological well-being of disabled people categorized in high level (90.9%). The study implied the dimensions of psychological well-being from the respondents were in high category of personality development (83.5%), positive relation with others (96.1%), purpose in life (93.5%) and self-acceptance (87.0%); but low category in autonomy (84.4%) and environmental mastery (88.3%). The study indicated that although people with disabilities have limitations on their physical condition, they do not result in limited psychological well-being. The findings of preliminary mixed methods study provide insights into psychological well-being condition that informs strategies to promote well-being of disable people. The study suggest to increase the autonomy and environmental mastery by strengthening the disability forum activities which focus on community engagement and social support.
