About Me

About Me

I am Kevin Rose, a researcher, teacher and analyst. I have also been hard-of-hearing since a very early age. While earning a MPH degree from CSU Long Beach I became interested in the health of the Deaf population. Since I couldn't find any comprehensive review of this topic, I decided to write one myself.


I will use this blog to keep readers informed of new developments in the research of the health of the Deaf.

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Pilgrimage of Parents of Deaf Children in Mexico City

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Over 90% of Deaf children are born to hearing parents, who often have a difficult time coping with this unexpected turn of events. Pfister conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 parents of children attending a school for the Deaf in Mexico City. She describes the typical process that these parents went through, which she describes as a pilgrimage: In this developing country, there is little common knowledge about deafness Most parents reported feeling devastated when they received the diagnosis that their child was Deaf, not knowing if they would ever be able to have  una plática  (chat, bonding) with their child They then typically went through a period of trying to "cure" their child through medical interventions, usually expending great effort, expenses and time with little to show for it. They often described intense hostility towards their child learning to sign from medical professionals and people in their community. Finally, they found their way to a school...
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Study of the Mental Well-Being of the English Deaf

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England has an estimated Deaf population of 80,000-100,000 who primarily communicate using British Sign Language (BSL). As in most other countries, the English Deaf have been shown to experience barriers in accessing healthcare services with resulting inequalities in health outcomes. Rogers et al. report their findings during the course of validating a BSL version of the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (SWEMWBS). They found that their Deaf participants tended to report a lower mental well-being than the English population as a whole, although this difference was just short of being significant. Participants who reported mental health difficulties (such as depression or anxiety) had significantly lower mental well-being scores. Gender and considering themselves culturally Deaf was not correlated with the participant's mental well-being. Those who were under age 66 and not employed also reported significantly lower mental well-being, which is an important issue du...
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Difficulties in Assessing Mental Status of Deaf Patients

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Previous studies have shown that cultural differences between Deaf patients and hearing healthcare practitioners can lead to the overdiagnosis of psychotic disorders. Gawad & Helminiak present a case report of a Deaf 34-year-old man who was referred to a hospital psychiatric unit from a jail. He had had 3 prior admissions and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia each time. His rapid recovery after therapy was initiated led the authors to conclude that he was not schizophrenic but had experienced either a manic episode or the effects of substance abuse. The authors describe how the presentation of Deaf people in distress, the differences between communication in ASL versus English, and the lack of standardized and validated ASL mental assessment tools can lead to the misdiagnoses of psychotic disorders in this population. They conclude by offering advice for healthcare practitioners on assessing the mental status of Deaf patients. Gawad, N.A. & Helminiak, A. (2018). Lo...
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