Psychological distress among adolescents with hearing impairment: the predictive strength of gender, degree of hearing loss, school type and parents’ communication competence

Abstract

This study investigated the predictive strength of gender (male and female), degree of hearing loss (mild/moderate and severe/profound), school type (school of the deaf, mainstreams with special services and inclusive school with oral instruction) and parents communication competence (oral communication, oral communication with sign language at home) on psychological distress of adolescents with hearing impairment in Nigeria. A sample of 63 distressed adolescents with hearing impairment participated in the study. Zung Self- Rating Depression Scale and Kesler Psychological Distress Scale were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using Pearson’s product moment correlation and multiple regressions. Findings revealed that the independent variables jointly accounted for variation in the dependent variable, while severe/profound had the greatest relationship with psychological distress. It is therefore imperative that the adolescents with hearing impairment should be helped to focus on adaptive ways that could help them develop effective interpersonal, cognitive and emotional behaviours.

U ovoj studiji istraživali smo prediktivnu snagu pola (muški i ženski), stepena oštećenja sluha (blago/umereno i teško/duboko), vrstu škole (škola za gluve, mejnstrim škola sa specijalnim službama i inkluzivna škola sa govornim instrukcijama) i kompetentnosti roditelja u komunikaciji (usmena komunikacija, usmena komunikacija sa znakovnim jezikom kod kuće) na psihološku uznemirenost adolescenta sa oštećenjem sluha u Nigeriji. U istraživanju je učestvovalo 63 uznemirena adolescenta sa oštećenjem sluha. Za prikupljanje podataka korišćena su Zung Skala samoprocene za depresiju i Kesler psihološke skale. Podaci su analizirani korišćenjem Pirsonovog korelacionog momenta proizvoda i višestruke regresije. Nalazi su otkrili da su nezavisne varijable zajedno činile varijacije u zavisnoj varijabli, kao i da su teška/duboka oštećenja sluha bila u značajnoj vezi sa psihološkim distresom. Stoga je imperativ da se adolescentima sa oštećenjem sluha pomogne da se fokusiraju na adaptivne mehanize koji bi im mogli pomoći da razviju efikasno međuljudsko, kognitivno i emocionalno ponašanje.