A comparison of deaf and hearing fathers' interactions with their hearing infants and toddlers

Abstract

The purpose of this secondary data analysis was to describe the effectiveness of interactions of Deaf father/hearing infant or toddler dyads (DF /he), and to compare these interactions with those of hearing father/hearing infant or toddler dyads (HF/he). Transactional Field analysis, with the inclusion of time and historical context as additional system variables, provided the conceptual framework for this study. The Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale (NCATS), designed to assess parent-child interactions in defined situations when children are between 1-36 months of age, is a 73-item instrument that was used to measure the effectiveness of the father-child interactions. The NC ATS was modified to credit DF/hc dyads with both verbal and manual communication. There were no statistically significant differences between the NCATS Parent Subscale, NCATS Child Subscale, or total NCATS scores of the DF/hc dyads compared with the HF/he dyads. Implications for clinical practice and recommendations for future research are discussed.