DEAF ADULTS AS PARENTS: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the strengths and needs of Deaf adults as parents of school-age and adolescent children. A cross-sectional, descriptive design was employed to gather data from a convenience sample of Deaf parents and hearing children from 15 families. The Parental Strengths and Needs Inventory (PSNI)--a 60 item Likert instrument--and structured interviews were used in data collection. The PSNI was administered to parents in sign language via videotape, and they were interviewed with the assistance of a professional interpreter. Parents' and children's total scores on the PSNI were above average according to Strom and Coolege's scoring instructions (1985). Review of subset scores indicated that Deaf parents had above average interest in acquiring additional information about childrearing, and parents of adolescents felt more than average frustration. Comparison of parents' and children's scores on parallel forms of the PSNI demonstrated no significant differences in total or subset scores, supporting validity of parents' scores. Comparison of parents' and children's interview responses with the topics on the PSNI revealed that the content on the PSNI was valid, but incomplete for Deaf parents. Deaf parents shared the concerns of normally hearing parents, but had additional concerns specific to parental deafness which were not addressed in the PSNI. Contributions of the study to Nursing research focused on strategies for triangulation and pilot testing of instruments in cross-cultural research. Limitations of the study were presented in terms of instrumentation and study design. Cautions also reported are interpretation of findings related to the ex-post-facto nature of the research design and the complexity of factors interrelated with parental Deafness.