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Hearing Impairment, Social Networks, and Coping: The Need for Families with Hearing-Impaired Children to Relate to Other Parents and to Hearing-Impaired Adults
- American Annals of the Deaf
- Gallaudet University Press
- Volume 145, Number 1, March 2000
- pp. 41-53
- 10.1353/aad.2012.0244
- Article
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For a report on the stress experiences of parents with hearing-impaired children in Germany, 317 parents completed a survey on how their families communicate and socialize, among other issues. The report focuses on how contacts with other parents and with hearing-impaired adults affect stress experiences, in the context of the child's hearing status and the means of communication. Parents who frequently meet with other parents show evidence of a warm, accepting, trusting relationship with their child. Parents who have many contacts with hearing-impaired adults show evidence of a strong sense of competence in regard to their child's upbringing. The findings confirm the implication found in most reports describing empirical studies. Social support is to be regarded as a cornerstone of psychosocial intervention and has to play as great a role as possible in institutional programs.