Disability and Social Representations Theory

The Case of Hearing Loss

Vinaya Manchaiah, Berth Danermark, Per Germundsson, Pierre Ratinaud

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781138544451
• eBook ISBN: 9781351003643
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Work
• Index: Social Sciences

Disability and Social Representations Theory provides theoretical and methodological knowledge to uncover the public perception of disabilities.

Over the last decade there has been a significant shift from body to environment, and the relation between the two, when understanding the phenomenon of disabilities. The current trend is to view disabilities as the outcome of this interaction; in short from a biopsychosocial perspective. This has called for research based on frameworks that incorporate both the body and the environment. There is a great corpus of knowledge of the functions of a body, and a growing corpus of environmental factors such as perceptions among specific groups of persons towards disabilities. However, there is a lack of knowledge of the perception of disabilities from a general population. This book offers an insight into how we can broaden our understanding of disability by using Social Representations Theory, with specific examples from studies on hearing loss. The authors highlight that attitudes and actions are outcomes of a more fundamental disposition (i.e., social representation) towards a phenomenon like disability.

This book is written assuming the reader has no prior knowledge of Social Representations Theory. It will be of interest to all scholars, students and professionals working in the fields of disability studies, health and social care, and sociology.

Section III

Using the Social Representations Theory in understanding public perception of hearing loss and hearing aids

The third section presents applications of the Social Representations Theory in understanding the public perception of hearing loss and hearing aids. The section opens by providing a summary of literature about attitudes towards hearing loss and hearing aids in Chapter 5. Examining the attitude research in this area identifies various limitations and highlights the need for alternative theoretical approaches. Social Representations Theory is an obvious choice to examine the representations of various disabilities including hearing loss. In Chapter 6, the details of empirical studies about the social representations of “hearing loss” and “hearing aids” from India, Iran, Portugal, and the United Kingdom are presented. These studies reveal that the perception of hearing loss and hearing aids varies across countries. The discussion in this section also highlights the need for understanding environmental factors, in particular understanding the influence of the media in forming social representations. In Chapter 7, the results of a study which examined the representation of hearing loss and hearing aids in the United States newspaper media, was presented. Overall, the main emphasis in these studies was to examine the “societal” perspective, rather than the “individual” perspective as highlighted in attitude studies. This focus on society is in line with the biopsychosocial model of disability, which is used more frequently in the current years to understand and study health and disability.

The empirical studies presented in this section provide a broader understanding of the objects “hearing loss” and “hearing aids.” However, these studies are exploratory in nature. Hence, there needs some caution in interpreting and generalizing the results. Nevertheless, these studies are the first of its kind to: (a) apply Social Representations Theory in understanding public perception about a particular disability and (b) present cross-cultural data from Asian and European countries. Taken together, there is a belief that these studies have furthered our understanding about hearing loss and hearing aids as historical studies have used either attitude theories or the Theory of Stigmatization. While these studies are presented as an example, the central argument is that the Social Representations Theory can be fruitful in understanding environmental perspectives on various health conditions and disabilities.

5 Attitude towards hearing loss and hearing aids

Summary

Hearing loss is one of the most common chronic conditions in older adults. Age-related and noise induced types of hearing loss constitute the biggest proportions of permanent hearing loss that have no medical or surgical cure. Untreated hearing loss can result in various physical, mental, and social consequences to both the person with hearing loss and their significant others. The most commonly used management strategy for those with permanent hearing loss is hearing aids. Hearing aids have been shown to reduce the negative effects of hearing loss. However, in the Western world only one in three or one in four people with hearing loss own a hearing aid, and an even smaller number use them. In hearing healthcare literature, several studies have examined the attitude and behavior of people with hearing loss towards hearing aids; however, not much is known about the manner in which society generally views and perceives hearing loss and hearing aids. In this chapter, a summary of audiological literature on attitude towards hearing loss and hearing aids is provided, the limitations of attitude research are identified, and a case for the use of Social Representations Theory in understanding the public perception of hearing loss and hearing aids is made.

Introduction

In this section, the results of social representation studies on “hearing loss” and “hearing aids” (Manchaiah, Danermark, et al., 2015a, 2015b; Manchaiah, Ratinaud, et al., 2018b; Germundsson et al., 2018) are discussed. However, before presenting the empirical studies, in this chapter, hearing loss and hearing aids are introduced and a summary of audiological literature on attitude towards hearing loss and hearing aids is provided.

Consequences of hearing loss

Hearing loss is one of the most frequent chronic conditions in older adults (Collins, 1997). Around 466 million people (i.e., over 5% of the population) live worldwide with disabling hearing loss (World Health Organization, 2018). Age-related and noise induced types of hearing loss constitute the biggest proportions of permanent hearing loss that have no medical or surgical cure. Hearing loss can result in various physical, mental, and social consequences to both the person with hearing loss (Chia et al., 2007) and their significant others (Manchaiah, Stephens, Zhao, & Kramer, 2012; Manchaiah & Taylor, 2018). Despite these adverse consequences, only a small number of people with hearing loss seek help and adopt interventions for their hearing loss (Davis et al., 2007). Hearing loss is most often recognized as a medical problem related to body structure and body function. However, research has clearly shown the close relation between hearing loss and factors such as communication, emotions, identity, and social relations (for review see — Manchaiah & Stephens, 2013). That means that hearing loss is a multidimensional state of being and has to be addressed from a clinical perspective in a multi professional way, and in research in an interdisciplinary way.

Hearing aids as a management option for hearing loss

Hearing aids are the most commonly used management strategy by those with permanent hearing loss, and hearing aids are known to reduce the negative effects of hearing loss (Stark & Hickson, 2004). However, in the Western world only one in three or one in four people with hearing loss owns a hearing aid (Bainbridge & Ramachandran, 2014; Davis et al., 2007) and an even smaller number use them. In low- and middle-income countries, this could be as low as one in ten or one in twenty people with hearing loss. The current production of hearing aids is anticipated to meet less than 10% of global needs (World Health Organization, 2018). Moreover, various reasons such as perceived hearing disability, cost, and stigma have been linked to non-uptake and non-use of hearing aids (David & Werner, 2016; McCormack & Fortnum, 2013; Ng & Loke, 2015).

Attitude towards hearing loss

Disability have been studied using various methods or theoretical frameworks, including attitude (Saunders, Cienkowski, Forsline, & Fausti, 2005; Zheng et al., 2016), stigmatization (Erler & Garstecki, 2002), prototype (Martz et al., 2009; McCaughey & Strohmer, 2005), and Social Representations Theory (Linton, Germundsson, Heimann, & Danermark, 2013; Manchaiah, Danermark, et al., 2015a, 2015b). However, studies on attitude towards health conditions and disabilities seems to be much more frequent when compared to other approaches. Although there is no universally accepted definition, “attitude” can be defined as a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something. Published work on attitude suggests that it has four main components: (1) evaluative; (2) affective; (3) cognitive; and (4) behavioral (Olson & Zanna, 1993; Albarracin & Shavitt, 2018). However, it is important to note that it is challenging to measure attitude as the self-reported measures does not assess all of the dimensions listed earlier (i.e., behavioral or affective).

In the area of hearing healthcare there is growing literature on attitude to hearing aids uptake (i.e., purchase and use of hearing aids), and hearing help-seeking (Knudsen et al., 2010; Jenstad & Moon, 2011). Most studies of attitude related to hearing loss have focused on the attitude of the persons with hearing loss. Few studies have investigated the attitude of others (...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Copyright declarations
• Abbreviations
• Section I Disabilities in our minds: Social Representations Theory and methods in context
• Section II Application of the Social Representations Theory in disability studies
• Section III Using the Social Representations Theory in understanding public perception of hearing loss and hearing aids
• Section IV Implications and future directions
• Index