DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMATOLOGY AMONG IN-SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS WITH IMPAIRED HEARING

Abstract

Purpose of the study: This study determined incidences of depressive symptoms and associated causative contextual factors among in-school adolescents with impaired hearing in South West, Nigeria. The study determined symptoms of depression exhibited by in-school adolescents with impaired hearing vis-à-vis some associated intrapersonal causative (age, religion, gender, the onset of hearing loss, satisfaction with the home environment, and family type) variables. Methodology: Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Data were collected from 236 adolescents who are either prelingually (39.1%) and postlingually (60.9%) hearing impaired with the Depressive Symptomatology Questionnaire (α = .89). Data collected over a period of 10 weeks were analysed with both descriptive and inferential statistics via SPSS version 23. Main Findings: 58.8% of the participants scored higher on the depression scale, which is mostly characterized by loss of appetite and fearfulness. There is a significant difference (F = 7.61; p < 0.05) in the expression of depressive symptoms between gender and across variants in the onset of deafness (F = 3.59; p < 0.05) and family type (F = 23.14; p < 0.05). Academic stressor and lack of access to information were found to be the major source of their depression. Applications of this study: This study is of importance to counselling psychologist and mental health practitioners for the development of strategic therapeutic approach geared towards positive psychosocial development of individuals with impaired hearing Novelty/Originality of this study: The study confirms the manifestation of moderate to a high level of depressive symptoms among those in-school adolescents with impaired hearing. Academic anxiety/low grade, communication difficulties, and negative societal attitude were the major source of depression for adolescents with impaired hearing in high schools.