Hallberg L R, Jansson G
Department of Psychology, Göteborg University, Sweden.
Br J Audiol. 1996 Oct;30(5):340-5. doi: 10.3109/03005369609076782.
The aim of this qualitative study was to describe, from the perspective of women with noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), their experiences of noise as a threat to health and their having to live with a hearing disability, i.e. behaviours, thoughts and emotions in auditory demanding situations. Ten women, patients with NIHL at the Department of Audiology, Borás' Hospital in Sweden, were selected to form a heterogeneous sample. A taped in-depth interview, lasting from 45 minutes to 1 hour, was conducted with each woman. The verbatim transcribed interviews were consecutively analysed using a method influenced by the tradition of grounded theory. Four categories emerged in the process of analysis. These categories were labelled: lack of awareness, ambivalence, controlling and avoiding coping strategies and stigmatization. The category 'lack of awareness' concerned the women's perceptions of the risks of noise on hearing, the lack of efforts on the part of the women to apply for financial compensation for their NIHL, the lack of an awareness of individual's right to have healthy work-place and to receive professional help for hearing impairment. Also lacking was the concept that hearing impaired individuals have the right to participate in the community on similar conditions as non-hearing impaired people. This lack of awareness was identified as a core category relating to the other categories: ambivalence, controlling and avoiding coping strategies and stigmatization. The women's expressions indicated ambivalence concerning the cause of the hearing disability and, also, how to manage the consequences of it: the women in the study seemed to alternate between feelings of hopelessness/resignation and a state of acceptance of the hearing disability. Furthermore, the women alternated between blaming themselves and blaming others for the cause of the hearing loss, indicating a change between internal and external locus of control. Also, the women alternated between controlling and avoiding strategies in coping with demanding auditory situations. The coping strategy chosen by the women in a specific situation intended to prevent or minimize stigmatization, i.e. 'to pass as normal' and thereby to maintain a positive self-image of normality. Despite this, the women often perceived negative and stigmatizing attitudes from others, which reinforced their feelings of ambivalence in how to manage the situation. The hypothesis based on the present pilot study, that women with NIHL are more likely to pass themselves off as normal hearing and therefore might be less likely to be reported in studies of NIHL than men, needs to be further tested in a larger sample.
这项定性研究的目的是，从患有噪声性听力损失（NIHL）的女性的角度，描述她们将噪声视为健康威胁以及不得不忍受听力残疾的经历，即在听觉要求较高的情况下的行为、想法和情绪。瑞典博拉斯医院听力科挑选了10名患有噪声性听力损失的女性患者，组成一个异质性样本。对每位女性进行了时长45分钟至1小时的深度录音访谈。采用受扎根理论传统影响的方法，对逐字转录的访谈内容进行了连续分析。分析过程中出现了四个类别。这些类别被标记为：意识缺失、矛盾心理、控制和回避应对策略以及污名化。“意识缺失”类别涉及女性对噪声对听力风险的认知、女性在申请噪声性听力损失经济赔偿方面的努力不足、对个人享有健康工作场所和获得听力障碍专业帮助权利的认识缺失。同样缺失的概念是，听力受损者有权在与非听力受损者相似的条件下参与社区活动。这种意识缺失被确定为与其他类别相关的核心类别：矛盾心理、控制和回避应对策略以及污名化。女性的表述表明她们对听力残疾的成因以及如何应对其后果存在矛盾心理：研究中的女性似乎在绝望/听天由命的情绪和接受听力残疾的状态之间交替。此外，女性在听力损失的成因上，在自责和指责他人之间交替，表明内控点和外控点之间的变化。而且，女性在应对要求较高的听觉情况时，在控制和回避策略之间交替。女性在特定情况下选择的应对策略旨在防止或尽量减少污名化，即“表现得正常”，从而维持正常的积极自我形象。尽管如此，女性经常感受到他人的负面和污名化态度，这强化了她们在如何应对这种情况上的矛盾情绪。基于目前这项初步研究的假设，即患有噪声性听力损失的女性更有可能伪装成听力正常，因此在噪声性听力损失研究中被报告的可能性可能比男性小，这一假设需要在更大的样本中进一步检验。
