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Purpose: There is consensus that Quality of Life (QOL) should be obtained through self-reports from people with intellectual Disability (ID). Thus far, there have been no attempts to collect self-reported QOL from people who are deaf and have ID., Methods: Based on an established short measure for QOL (EUROHIS-QOL), an adapted easy-to-understand sign language interview was developed and applied in a population (n = 61) with severe-to-profound hearing loss and mild-to-profound ID. Self-reports were conducted at two time points (t 1 and t 2 ), 6 months apart. The Stark QOL, an established picture-based questionnaire, was also obtained at t 2 and three Proxy ratings of QOL (from caregivers) were conducted for each participant at t 1 ., Results: Self-reported QOL was successfully administered at both time points for 44 individuals with mild and moderate ID (IQ reference age between 3.3 and 11.8 years). The self-reports showed sufficient test-retest reliability and significant correlations with the Stark QOL. As anticipated, self-reported QOL was higher than proxy-reported QOL. Test-retest reliability and internal consistency were good for self-reported QOL., Conclusion: Reliable and valid self-reports of QOL can be obtained from deaf adults with mild-moderate ID using standard inventories adapted to the linguistic and cognitive level of these individuals., (© 2020. The Author(s).)

This article endeavors to investigate the role of social networks in contributing to the quality of life of an elder and middle-aged Deaf population. In particular, it poses the question of whether a certain network composition (deaf and hearing network persons) provides positive resources to improve quality of life and attempts to identify moderating and mediating connections between social networks and quality of life. Based on the data collected in a survey of 107 members of the Deaf community aged 45-81 years, it was possible to ascertain the fact that a larger social network is significantly associated with a higher quality of life, but the size of the deaf network is principally decisive. The hypothesis that a bicultural network composition would have a particular positive effect on the quality of life could not be confirmed. Findings revealed that the effect of deaf network size on the quality of life is mediated by personal resources concerning self-efficacy and communication skills. Moreover, evidence was sound for the functional equivalence of social and personal resources, which suggests that potential negative effects of reduced personal resources on the quality of life could possibly be compensated by a larger deaf network and vice versa.

In the past decade, the living conditions of hearing impaired children have been changing due to new technologies and mainstreaming in schools. The majority of population-based studies in deaf pupils were conducted before these changes started to take place. The present study aimed to evaluate the current situation regarding aspects of mental health and, for the first time, quality of life in a representative sample of deaf pupils. The sample stems from a population of 145,000 pupils attending the first to ninth grades during the school years 2003-2005 in Upper Austria. From 186 children with bilateral hearing impairment of at least 40 dB registered at the centre for special education for children with sensory impairments, 99 with a performance IQ above 70 were included in the present study. Parents and teachers completed the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ), while parents and children were administered the inventory for the assessment of the quality of life in children and adolescents (ILC). Results indicated that deaf children scored significantly higher on the SDQ than their counterparts from normative samples according to both parent and teacher ratings. Differences were most marked with regard to conduct problems, emotional problems, and peer problems, and less marked for hyperactivity/inattention. While parents of deaf children had a generally positive view of their children's quality of life, deaf children provided a more complex picture, stressing areas of dissatisfaction. Mental health and quality of life were found to be unrelated to the child's degree of deafness.

Objective: This study aims to compare levels of psychological distress and the quality of life in the hard of hearing with levels reported by the signing deaf, and the hearing population., Method: A total of 373 members of the Hard of Hearing Association completed the brief WHO's Quality of Life, 12-item General Health Questionnaire and Brief Symptom Inventory, and provided details about their initial and current deafness., Results: The hard of hearing have worse social relationships than the signing deaf, and are disadvantaged relative to the hearing in all areas measured. Quality of life is related to the level of satisfaction with the hearing achieved by hearing aids., Conclusion: General psychiatrists need to be aware that patients who are hard of hearing may be even more isolated than deaf people in a signing community. Hard of hearing patients with unsatisfactory hearing aids can be greatly assisted by cochlear implants.

Background: High risks of mental illness within the deaf community are reported. The assessment of the level of mental distress and quality of life in the deaf community is difficult due to communication problems in spoken and written language. The deaf community is characterized by the use of sign language., Methods: A new measure of acceptable reliability using sign language is described. The interactive computerised package including special versions of the World Health Organisation's Brief Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF), the 12-Item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and five subscales of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) was administered to a large community sample of deaf people (n = 236), and results were compared with normative data for German-speaking hearing people., Results: The deaf sample has a significantly poorer quality of life than the general population for the physical and psychological domains (p < 0.01) as measured by the WHOQOL-BREF. However, in the domain of social relationships, no significant difference (p = 0.19) was demonstrated. All findings with the GHQ-12 and the BSI show much higher levels (p = 0.01) of emotional distress among the deaf., Conclusion: Although a poorer quality of life and a higher level of mental distress are demonstrated, the similarity to the general population in the domain social relationships shows that this does not affect all domains. These findings show the need for easily accessible health services for the deaf which offer sensitive communication with them.

Background: Structured assessment of quality of life and mental distress in deaf people is difficult for various reasons. This paper describes the development and reliability of an interactive computer-based assessment package for measuring quality of life and psychological distress in the deaf population., Methods: The Brief version of the WHO Quality of Life (WHOQOL) Questionnaire, the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) had been translated into sign-language and videotaped. A total of 236 members of the deaf community in Upper Austria participated by responding to a programme consisting of self-administered written and videotaped test-items presented to them on a notebook computer. The reliability of the various assessments was established on this large community sample., Results: When reliability of the versions for the deaf was compared with that of written versions of the same measures in general population samples, it was found to be somewhat lower, although still in an acceptable range, for the WHO-QOL and the GHQ-12. For the BSI, the reliability was even higher than that of the general population., Conclusions: For deaf individuals whose preferred communication is sign language, quality of life and mental distress can be effectively and reliably assessed with the use of carefully translated and adapted common instruments.

Introduction: High risks of mental illness within the deaf community are reported. The assessment of the level of mental distress and quality of life in the deaf community is difficult due to communication problems in spoken and written language. The deaf community is characterized by the use of sign language. Objective: This study aims to compare levels of psychological distress and the quality of life with levels reported by the signing deaf people and the hearing population. Methods: A measure of acceptable reliability using sign language is described. The interactive computerised package including special versions of the WHOQOL-BREF, the GHQ-12 and five subscales of the BSI was administered to a large community sample of deaf people (n=236), and results were compared with normative data for German speaking hearing people. Results: The deaf sample has a significantly poorer quality of life than the general population for the physical and psychological domains (p<0,01) as measured by the WHOQOL-BREF. However, in the domain of social relationships no significant difference (p=0,19) was demonstrated. All findings with the GHQ-12 and the BSI show much higher levels (p=0,01) of emotional distress among the deaf. Conclusion: Although a poorer quality of life and a higher level of mental distress is demonstrated the similarity to the general population in the domain social relationships shows that this does not affect all domains. These findings show the need for easily accessible health services for the deaf which offer sensitive communication with them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]