Pictorial Phenomena Depicting the Family Climate of Deaf/Hard of Hearing Children and Their Hearing Families.

Anat Avrahami-Winaver,Dafna Regev,Shunit Reiter

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02221

Abstract

This mixed method study (Explanatory Design – the Participant Selection Model) investigated the use of joint drawing (the Family Squiggle) as a family climate assessment tool for hearing families who have a deaf/hard of hearing (D/HH) child. The goal was to evaluate the possibilities of applying a quantitative approach to characterize the pictorial phenomena produced by hearing families who have a D/HH child and then apply qualitative research approaches to better understand the meaning of these phenomena. Twenty-eight hearing families (parents and child) whose child was diagnosed as D/HH and used hearing devices (hearing aids and implant) were recruited along with 16 families with a hearing child of a similar age enrolled in a mainstream school. The sessions involved a joint drawing followed by a family interview. In the quantitative stage, pictorial phenomena for which there was a significant association between the phenomena and the group of families were defined. These were: (1) the number of dominant images, (2) images occupying less than a quarter of the page, (3) images with accentuated outlines, (4) moderate colorfulness with four to five colors in each drawing, (5) minimal representation of the face, (6) concrete rather than creative titles, (7) muting of conflictual themes, and (8) images reminiscent of hearing devices (hearing aids and implant). In the qualitative phase, interviews were conducted with the hearing families with a D/HH child to better understand the meaning of these pictorial phenomena. The findings suggest that each of these phenomena represent the preoccupation of the family with D/HH, capture a certain aspect of family dynamics, and together provide a broader and deeper picture of the family climate and the interactions between the children’s family and hearing. This assessment tool may thus be utilized when verbal tools cannot be easily applied.

Highlights

This study applied the Family Squiggle technique as a family climate assessment tool on a sample of hearing families who have a deaf/hard of hearing (D/HH) child
The qualitative part examined the meaning of these phenomena. This summary section describes the conscious and less conscious aspects of the lives of hearing families with D/HH children emerging from the interviews and the pictorial phenomena
Other phenomena, such as the minimal presence of the face and ears, subconsciously helped the parents represent the child with deaf/hard of hearing (D/HH) within the family and sustain their culture, values, and characteristics while nurturing those of their D/HH children

Summary

Introduction

This study applied the Family Squiggle technique as a family climate assessment tool on a sample of hearing families who have a deaf/hard of hearing (D/HH) child. The literature review addresses the emotional characteristics of D/HH children and their hearing families and highlights the complexities of using verbal tools to assess this population It discusses emerging research in the field of art-based assessment and the potential of the Family Squiggle joint drawing to evaluate family climate. Family dynamics are influenced by the way the parents perceive the condition of the child, namely, whether deafness is seen as a physiological (hearing) and medical problem to be rectified and “normalized” or as an integral part of the child that relates to a sense of identity and belonging (Marschark and Spencer, 2011; Eichengreen, 2014; Young, 2018). Other studies have suggested that hearing parents tend to be overprotective and help their D/HH children more with their daily lives compared to their interactions with their hearing siblings (Meadow-Orlans et al, 2003; Mathos and Broussard, 2005)

Methods

Results

Conclusion