Coping with post-lingual severe-profound hearing impairment: a grounded theory study

The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of coping with demanding auditory situations in everyday life from the perspective of individuals with severe-profound hearing impairment. Seventeen individuals (11 women and 6 men), with post-lingual severe-profound hearing impairment participated in the study. All were patients at the Department of Audiology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Göteborg, Sweden. Inclusion criteria were a hearing impairment exceeding 70 dB HL at the frequency of 1 kHz in the better ear, and full-time employment. Data were assessed by in-depth interviews lasting about one hour. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed line-by-in line in accordance with the grounded theory tradition. Six theoretical constructs, or categories, were grounded in the data. These categories were labelled 'coaching', 'belonging to two worlds', 'self-efficacy', 'hardiness' and 'directing coping strategies'. In a grounded theory the central phenomenon on which all the other categories are integrated is known as the 'core category'. The core category, which emerged in the present study, was labelled 'finding flow and entering a positive circle'. This was described as a condition necessary for successful coping with the demanding situation of being a profoundly hearing-impaired person working full-time. According to the core category, there is a small 'margin' within the positive circle (a space where smaller mistakes may occur). However, if mistakes are too severe, or too many, individuals will no longer find flow in the positive circle, rather they enter a negative circle. In the present study subjects' personalities were characterized by hardiness. It is suggested that coaching behaviour and the hearing-impaired individuals' personality dispositions of hardiness and self-efficacy function as resistance resources, buffering stressful events in everyday life.