A Cross-Sectional Study on Perceived Stress and Coping Mechanisms among Children Suffering With Mute and Hearing Impairment

A Cross-sectional Study on Perceived Stress and coping mechanisms among children suffering with Mute and Hearing Impairment T. Sreedhar1, Dr. V. Srikanth Reddy2 Department of Psychology, Srivenkateswara University, Tirupathi Background Physically challenged children are the most vulnerable population in India. Among them mute and deaf children are gifted children with plethora of talents. In spite of having special abilities, this cohort has special needs. So far, studies have focused parental needs, stress, anxiety and depression of mute and deaf children. But very few studies has focused to study the stress, and coping strategies of mute and hearing impairment children. Therefore, the current study aims to study the stress and coping strategies of children suffering with mute and hearing impairment. Methodology The current study adopted the descriptive research design and purposive sampling technique was followed. By following this technique the total of 60 school going children aged between 8-16 years suffering with mute and hearing impairment were included in the study. To measure the perceived stress, Stress Appraisal Measure (SAM) scale and to measure the coping strategies, coping strategies (CS) scale was used. The socio-demographic details were collected from school records. The descriptive statistics were used. Results The results showed that the mean of children was12.232.70. The results showed that children with special needs such as mute and deaf children had higher level of stress and decreased coping strategies. The majority of children 60 % were male and 40 % were female children participated in the study. About 96.7 % hailed from rural back ground and least participants 3.3 % hailed from urban back ground. The result also showed that the majority 75 % participants had partial hearing disability and the other 25 % children had complete hearing disability. The results also depicted that 100 % children had associated mute disability besides either complete or partial hearing disability. The results also depicted that increased stress levels and decreased coping strategies among children with mute and deaf children. Conclusion and Implications Therefore, we conclude that there is an urgent need to assess the psychological and social needs of children with mute and hearing impairment and address the mental health issues by providing psychological interventions for this cohort is imperative.1. T. Sreedhar, Ph. D Scholar, Department of Psychology, S. V. U, Tirupathi. Contact details tanasree@gmail. com, 9100676821.2. Dr. V. Srikanth Reddy, Professor and Head, Department of Psychology, S. V. U, Tirupathi. A Cross-sectional Study on Perceived Stress and coping mechanisms among children suffering with Mute and Hearing Impairment Background Deafness is one of the disabilities seen in all age group. Deafness in younger age group is an emerging health problem in our country. There are 32 million (9 %) children in the world with disabling hearing loss (WHO 2012). Prevalence of deaf and mute children in India is 10.8 and 6.8 in rural and urban areas respectively (Jasmie 2013). Many researches were done on deaf-dumb children about their physical health, causes of deafness, cochlear implantation, degree of hearing loss, etc. Permanent childhood hearing impairment can have a devastating impact on communication skills, educational attainment, mental health and quality of life, with a high cost to society. Education of parents has also significant effect on development of the deaf children. Social problems were seen in the children with low education level of parents. Deaf children are more vulnerable to mental health problems than hearing children. The prevalence of mental health problems in community samples of deaf children is approximately 40 % (Hindley. P 2000). Perceived Stress Stress is the bodys reaction to a physical or emotional situation that causes imbalance in a persons life. Occasional stress is normal and predictable in our daily lives. Normal stress serves to present us with challenges for greater learning and opportunity, such as the stress that we may experience before meeting new people. On the other hand, constant stress can cause us many problems and, unless handled, can add to the stress of another situation. Children react in different ways to stress. Some children become ill. Some may become withdrawn and nervous while others show anger and demand attention. In some instances, development is affected. There are also some children who do not seem bothered by stress. We often call these children resilient. Stress becomes a problem when the ordinary stress of daily life becomes overwhelming. When under stress, there is an increase in heart rate, breathing is faster, and muscles tense up. When there are several stressors, the level and duration of the stress are greater (Honig, A. S. ). Both negative and positive events can cause stress. Family events are often a source of