Effect of Emotional Intelligence on the General Health and Life Orientation of Adolescents Who Have a Hearing Impairment

Abstract

ABSTRACT Deafness is a common sensorineural disorder that can lead to lower quality of life and life orientation. Hence, we examined the effect of emotional intelligence (EI) on the general health and life orientation of adolescents who have a hearing impairment. The Participants were 32 adolescents aged 16–19 years selected via random sampling method from Deaf schools in Isfahan. They were randomly divided to intervention and control groups. Each group also consisted of 16 adolescents. The intervention group participated in an EI program for 12 sessions. These sessions were implemented for 45 minutes a day, two days a week for six weeks. Data were collected by a General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and Life Orientation Test (LOT). The findings suggested that EI training significantly influenced the general health and life orientation of the experimental group, after participation in the intervention sessions. These results suggest that EI might result in positive and effective consequences and might play an important role in the improvement of general health and life orientation of the participants. For this reason, these findings have critical implications for therapists, teachers, and parents in supporting adolescents who have a hearing impairment to develop their general health and life orientation.