Abstract
AbstractAn understanding of the psychosocial impact of deafblindness on older people is impoverished by a dearth of research in the field. Particularly limited are studies adopting a salutogenesis perspective, in which older deafblind people's coping capacities are explored. Much research focuses on vulnerability to unfavourable outcomes, which may perpetuate negative stereotypes of deafblind people as passive and dependent. Identifying deafblind people as a vulnerable group gives rise to misunderstanding of the impairment, perceptions of incapability and neglect of deafblind people's agency. This paper draws on data from the first United Kingdom-based study of vulnerability from the perspectives of older adults ageing with deafblindness. Findings presented here relate to participants’ experiences of managing and coping with their felt vulnerability and ageing with deafblindness. The study adopted interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as its qualitative approach. In-depth semi-structured interviews were undertaken between October 2014 and July 2016 with eight participants, aged between 48 and 83 years. Data were analysed using an iterative six-step IPA process. Three superordinate themes were identified: taking action to protect self; psychological coping strategies; and accessing and using care and support. Participants’ managing and coping strategies, and the care and support they value, respond to elements identified as generating felt vulnerability. Professionals should seek to bolster coping capacity and provide support in ways valued by those ageing with deafblindness.
Highlights
Sometimes termed dual sensory loss, deafblindness is a complex condition (Bodsworthet al. 2011)
Though they are a smaller sub-group of the deafblind population, people ageing with deafblindness have been identified in English policy for several decades (Department of Health 1997), but there is still little known about their lives (Simcock 2017a)
Reflecting interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA)’s ‘interplay between the interpretive activity of the researcher and the participants’ account of ... experience’ (Eatough and Smith 2006:120), findings are presented as a narrative account and use extracts from interview transcripts to provide evidence for each theme
Summary
Sometimes termed dual sensory loss, deafblindness is a complex condition (Bodsworthet al. 2011). In the United Kingdom (UK), older people with late-life acquired deafblindness form the largest ‘sub-group’ of the deafblind population (Robertson and Emerson 2010) and there is research consensus that prevalence rises with increasing age (Wittich and Simcock 2019). Though they are a smaller sub-group of the deafblind population, people ageing with deafblindness have been identified in English policy for several decades (Department of Health 1997), but there is still little known about their lives (Simcock 2017a)
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