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(Austria)

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.

Mental health and quality of life in deaf pupils.



Fellinger J, Holzinger D, Sattel H, Laucht M.

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2008 Sep 22



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