Psychological strengths and disability : a study on hearing-impaired adults

Abstract

South Africa's equity legislation demands the incorporation of persons with disabilities in the workforce. Owing to the unique challenges that these people face, they need well-developed salutogenic characteristics such as sense of coherence, self-efficacy and locus of control in order to integrate effectively into mainstream environments. The objective of the research was to explore these salutogenic constructs in the hearing-impaired adult population and to note differences between the different sub-groups within the sample (N = 63). A biographical form and combination of salutogenic questionnaires were employed to measure these constructs. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were utilised to analyse the data. The results showed statistically significant inter-group differences in all three salutogenic constructs. These differences were found for age groups, onset of deafness, deafness category, primary school attended, hearing status of spouse and parents, and level of qualification.