Everyday activities and social contacts among older deaf sign language users: Relationships to health and well‐being

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the everyday activities and social contacts among older deaf sign language users, and to investigate relationships between these phenomena and the health and wellbeing within this group. The study population comprised deaf sign language users, 65 years or older, in Sweden. Data collection was based on interviews in sign language, including open-ended questions covering everyday activities and social contacts as well as self-rated instruments measuring aspects of health and subjective wellbeing. The results demonstrated that the group of participants was homogeneous in their productive and leisure activities, regardless of gender and age. The number of productive activities was related to all aspects of health, while the number of leisure activities was related to perceived health and subjective wellbeing. No significant relationship was found between aspects of health and subjective wellbeing and the frequency of social contacts with family/relatives or of visits at the deaf club meeting friends. It is concluded that the variety of activities at the deaf clubs are important for the subjective wellbeing of older deaf sign language users. Further research should investigate the importance and perceived value of the various activities at the deaf clubs. When evaluating the results of this study, the fact that the total number of participants was small, and the dropout rate was high, has to be borne in mind.

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