Lived Experiences and Challenges of Mothers with Children with Hearing impairments: A Phenomenological Study

Given the importance of hearing sense in the cognitive and social development of children, damage to this sense has many negative consequences. The severity of the hearing loss may be mild, moderate, severe, or profound. Over 90% of children with hearing impairments are born to hearing parents. Hearing parents unlike deaf parents with a deaf child, do not have any experience with the development of a deaf child. Since hearing impairments have many problems for both the affected person and his or her family, the present study aimed to investigate the motherschr('39') problems with hearing impaired mothers.

The design of this research was a qualitative with phenomenological study. The study population consisted of mothers with hearing impaired children in Tabriz in 2017. In this regard, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 mothers of this group of children who were purposefully selected to reach the theoretical saturation stage. Data analysis was done by means of Colaizzi method and identification of main and sub-themes.

The body of evidence available regarding the family system of developmental disorders, including those with hearing impairments, shows that this group of families reported both positive and negative effects of their childchr('39')s presence in their reports. Thus, despite reporting negative experiences such as chronic stress, personal growth experiences are also of interest in this group of families. The present study identified problems faced by parents of children with hearing impairments, including independent living, behavioral problems, and social problems, respectively.

The multiple problems of independent living, behavioral, and social problems reflect the effects of hearing impairments on the overall context of the childchr('39')s life and social environment. Developmental disorders, including hearing impairments, are not only health problems, but also have their effects on onechr('39')s social interactions with the environment. Language problems, which are an important communication tool for the interaction of this group of children, lead to their social isolation and their behavioral problems negatively affect adaptation conditions. Based on the problems faced by parents, comprehensive evidence-based psychological interventions and social support are needed to help this group of parents of children with hearing impairments.