Deaf Health Review

It is widely assumed that after deaf children receive cochlear implants (CI) they will go on to live normal lives using audition and speaking. However, research shows more nuanced results, with some children continuing to rely on signing and experiencing difficulty communicating with peers and social isolation. Much of past research on this subject is based on surveys of the parents of these children, who may report better social functioning than their children do. Dammeyer et al. surveyed 65 Danish adolescents with CI to determine their experiences with communication, social participation and friendships, and psychological well-being. The results showed that the group overall was not too different from their hearing peers. The rates of depression and being bullied was similar to the background rates. However, 20% reported feeling lonely often or all the time, double the rate of hearing Danish adolescents, and 10.8% reported having no friends. 55.4% reported feeling different from ot...

There is a strong relationship between health and quality of life. Because health disparities have been demonstrated for Deaf communities around the world, it can be expected that they would have a lower quality of life (QOL). However, like many health-related issues concerning the Deaf, there is a lack of research on this issue. Tsimpida et al. measured QOL for a convenience sample of Greek Deaf (n=86), hard-of-hearing (n=54), and hearing (n=97) community members. QOL was measured with the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36v2). One of the researchers was a respected member of the Greek Deaf community, which helped foster trust and participation. The questionnaire was translated into Greek Sign Language as needed by the participants. The results showed that the Deaf scored lower on all dimensions of the QOL questionnaire (Physical Functioning, Role-Physical, Bodily Pain, General Health, Vitality, Social Functioning, Role-Emotional, and Mental Health). Determinants for this included the ...

Denmark has approximately 4,000 Deaf citizens who communicate primarily with Danish Sign Language. Skøt et al. are studying the barriers for the Deaf to access healthcare and psychological services after large scale natural or man-made disasters. Since there has been a shortage of these events in Denmark, they decided to conduct semi-structured interviews with Deaf or hard-of-hearing Danish who had experienced a traumatic event. Common themes that emerged included emergency responders and healthcare workers with little training or experience working with the Deaf, lack of interpreters and reluctance by the Deaf to use some interpreters due to privacy or compatibility issues, healthcare workers relying on patients' relatives to relay communications, lack of psychologists who were trained both in trauma counseling and working with the Deaf, and lack of support groups for the Deaf. The participants provided many suggestions to improve their access to care, many of which would seem u...