A scoping review of deaf sign language users’ perceptions and experiences of well-being in South Africa

Abstract

Background: This scoping review concerns deaf adult sign language users from any country (e.g. users of South African Sign Language (SASL), British Sign Language (BSL), American Sign Language (ASL) and so forth). It concerns well-being understood to include subjective well-being and following the WHO’s (2001) definition of well-being as “mental health as a state of well-being in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.” Well-being has three components (Steptoe, Deaton, and Stone, 2015; Stewart-Brown, Tennant, Tennant, Platt, Parkinson and Weich, 2009): (i) Live evaluation, also referred to life satisfaction, which concerns an individual’s evaluation of their life and their satisfaction with its quality and how good they feel about it; (ii) hedonic well-being which refers to everyday feelings or moods and focuses on affective components (feeling happy); (iii) eudaimonic well-being, which emphasises action, agency and self-actualisation (e.g. sense of control, personal growth, feelings of purpose and belonging) that includes judgments about the meaning of one’s life. Well-being is not defined as the absence of mental illness but rather as a positive state of flourishing that encompasses these three components. The review is not concerned with evidence concerning mental illness or psychiatric conditions amongst deaf signers. A specific concern is deaf sign language users’ perceptions and experiences of well-being.