Group Communication Coping Strategies with Hearing Youths from the Inner Experiences of Deaf Youths

Background and purpose

Previous studies have indicated that deaf youths in mainstream education settings experience a significant degree of alienation and exclusion. Since deaf youths have difficulties in communicating with hearing peers through group activities in schools, they have a strong disposition to distance themselves from their hearing peers, and are often ignored and rejected by peers. It is necessary to develop a preventive intervention strategy for deaf youths to acquire group communication coping strategies, so they can form positive peer relationships with hearing youths. The research question is as follows: “What kinds of communication coping strategies do deaf youths use in a group setting?” To answer the question, this study uses phenomenological methods to grasp the vivid experiences of how deaf youths cope with communication difficulties in a group setting.

 Methods

Ten Korean deaf youths (aged 20-24) whose main communication mode is spoken language were selected as participants. The degree of hearing loss of for all participants was higher than 90dB in both ears. By employing notebook typing and sign language, in-depth interviews were conducted, audio-recorded, and transcribed verbatim. Collected data were analyzed interactively and systematically through Giorgi’s phenomenology analysis method. Trustworthiness of the research was taken into consideration by applying Guba and Lincoln’s evaluative criteria (such as truth value, applicability, consistency, and neutrality).

 Findings

This study showed that when group communication with hearing youths is broken, deaf youths use various coping strategies, which can be divided into emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies. The emotion-focused coping strategies helped the participants control their emotions in a given situation; strategies included avoidance, keeping still, and grasping the situation with sense. Some avoided and/or left a conversation to get out of a stressful situation. Others kept still without asking hearing people for consideration so as not to ruin the mood. Here, it is important to note that most participants tactfully pretended to understand what others were saying.

Participants also used problem-focused strategies, which included preparation for a conversation, setting up the scope of a conversation, letting others recognize their existence, suggesting a convenient communication method, and confidently asking for consideration. These strategies changed given the situation. Some participants gave up having group conversations; instead, they talked only to those sitting next to them or moved around to join a conversation within their scope of communication. From time to time, they used other strategies such as using sign language to visualize their hearing loss or gazing at a particular person to induce consideration. Furthermore, some participants requested consideration, thereby strategically changing the situation to be more in line with their condition.

 Conclusion and Implications

While existing studies have maintained that deaf youths have communication difficulties simply because of their deafness, this study found that deaf youths try to communicate with hearing youths using a diversity of coping strategies. Social workers need to know how to effectively communicate with deaf youths and develop training programs that promote group communication skills and self-assertion skills to prevent them from withdrawing from peer groups.