Papers by Kerstin Heiling
BMC Psychiatry, Apr 28, 2023
Mental health problems and lower Quality of Life (QoL) are more common in deaf and hard-of-hearin... more Mental health problems and lower Quality of Life (QoL) are more common in deaf and hard-of-hearing-(D)HHchildren than in typically hearing (TH) children. Communication has been repeatedly linked to both mental health and QoL. The aims of this study were to compare mental health and QoL between signing deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH), hard-of-hearing (HH) and TH children and to study associations between mental health/QoL and severity of hearing loss and communication. 106 children and adolescents (mean age 11;8; SD = 3.42), 59 of them DHH and 47 HH, and their parents reported child mental health and QoL outcomes. Parents also provided information about their children's communication, hearing loss and education while their children's cognitive ability was assessed. Although (D)HH and their parents rated their mental health similar to their TH peers, about twice as many (D)HH children rated themselves in the clinical range. However, (D)HH children rated their QoL as similar to their TH peers, while their parents rated it significantly lower. Associations between communicative competence, parent-reported mental health and QoL were found, whereas severity of hearing loss based on parent-report had no significant association with either mental health or QoL. These results are in line with other studies and emphasise the need to follow up on (D) HH children's mental health, QoL and communication.
Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, Aug 24, 2019
The majority of studies on mental health in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children report a high... more The majority of studies on mental health in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children report a higher level of mental health problems. Inconsistencies in reports of prevalence of mental health problems have been found to be related to a number of factors such as language skills, cognitive ability, heterogeneous samples as well as validity problems caused by using written measures designed for typically hearing children. This study evaluates the psychometric properties of the self-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Norwegian Sign Language (NSL; SDQ-NSL) and in written Norwegian (SDQ-NOR). Forty-nine DHH children completed the SDQ-NSL as well as the SDQ-NOR in randomized order and their parents completed the parent version of the SDQ-NOR and a questionnaire on hearing and language-related information. Internal consistency was examined using Dillon-Goldstein's rho, test-retest reliability using intraclass correlations, construct validity by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and partial least squares structural equation modeling. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were established as acceptable to good. CFA resulted in a best fit for the proposed five-factor model for both versions, although not all fit indices reached acceptable levels. The reliability and validity of the SDQ-NSL seem promising even though the validation was based on a small sample size. Two reviews and a meta-analysis have reported an elevated prevalence of emotional and behavioral problems in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children and adolescents across countries, informants, and measures (Fellinger, Holzinger, & Pollard, 2012; Stevenson, Kreppner, Pimperton, Worsfold, & Kennedy, 2015; Theunissen et al., 2014). For brevity, the term "children" will be used to describe both children and adolescents in this paper. The majority of studies have reported that 20-50% of DHH children suffer from mental health problems (Dammeyer, 2010b;
Bilingual vs. Oral Education
Issues Unresolved
Additional file 1 of Psychometric properties of the Inventory of Life Quality in children and adolescents in Norwegian Sign Language
Additional file 1. Appendix A and B.
La lectura y la escritura en niños sordos en contextos bilingües: una experiencia de veinte años de evaluación
The development of deaf children : academic achievement levels and social processes
Tema: Medan livet går förbi – Om sjukdomen ME/CFS (Myalgisk encefalomyelit/Kroniskt trötthetssyndrom)
This study examined whether the level of academic achievement changed when deaf pupils in Sweden ... more This study examined whether the level of academic achievement changed when deaf pupils in Sweden were introduced to sign communication at the preschool or kindergarten level. The study compared performance of 40 deaf students, attending a school for the deaf, on a comprehensive testing program (covering Swedish language and mathematical and numerical ability) in grade 8 with performance of deaf students on the same tests in the 1960s before early sign language was commonly encouraged. The study found significant differences in performance between the current students and their orally trained age-mates. The level of academic achievement had risen, although results from tests 'of general intellectual ability and spatial/perceptual ability remained the same. Current students were p,rticularly superior in the understanding and use of written Swedish, but the differen,..e was also evident in numerical and mathematical tests. (Author/DB)
Object: The main aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of Quality of Life, family ... more Object: The main aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of Quality of Life, family functioning and mental health for Norwegian deaf and hard-of-hearing children and adolescents. Method: We used the Inventory of Life Quality for Children (ILC), McMaster Family Assessment Device (GFS) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). These instruments were used to assess Quality of Life, family functioning, emotional and behavioural problems in deaf and hard-of-hearing (n= 20) and hearing Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) patients (n = 717) as well as in a hearing normative sample (n= 1032). Results: We found that Quality of Life and family functioning of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) CAP patients were comparable to those of their hearing CAP peers. DHH CAP patients showed a non-significant tendency to report more emotional and behavioural difficulties than hearing CAP patients. Conclusion: Based on these results, Norwegian deaf and hard-of-hearing CAP patient...
The aim of this paper is to review the development of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) for t... more The aim of this paper is to review the development of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) for the deaf and hard of hearing, compared to the general CAP in Europe. Risk factors and epidemiology are described.
This study examined whether the level of academic achievement changed when deaf pupils in Sweden ... more This study examined whether the level of academic achievement changed when deaf pupils in Sweden were introduced to sign communication at the preschool or kindergarten level. The study compared performance of 40 deaf students, attending a school for the deaf, on a comprehensive testing program (covering Swedish language and mathematical and numerical ability) in grade 8 with performance of deaf students on the same tests in the 1960s before early sign language was commonly encouraged. The study found significant differences in performance between the current students and their orally trained age-mates. The level of academic achievement had risen, although results from tests 'of general intellectual ability and spatial/perceptual ability remained the same. Current students were p,rticularly superior in the understanding and use of written Swedish, but the differen,..e was also evident in numerical and mathematical tests. (Author/DB) *********) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are t...
Background Several studies have assessed the Quality of Life (QoL) in Deaf and hard-of-hearing (D... more Background Several studies have assessed the Quality of Life (QoL) in Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children and adolescents. The findings from these studies, however, vary from DHH children reporting lower QoL than their typically hearing (TH) peers to similar QoL and even higher QoL. These differences have been attributed to contextual and individual factors such as degree of access to communication, the participants’ age as well as measurement error. Using written instead of sign language measures has been shown to underestimate mental health symptoms in DHH children and adolescents. It is expected that translating generic QoL measures into sign language will help gain more accurate reports from DHH children and adolescents, thus eliminating one of the sources for the observed differences in research conclusions. Hence, the aim of the current study is to translate the Inventory of Life Quality in Children and Adolescents into Norwegian Sign Language (ILC-NSL) and to evaluate the...
This report summarizes two studies which documented the development of prelingually deaf children... more This report summarizes two studies which documented the development of prelingually deaf children (N=4, N=40) in Sweden exposed to sign communication during preschool years. The first study involved analysis of video recordings, forming a qualitative description of social strategies used by four children with different social positions in the peer group. The second study compared results from a comprehensive testing program with 15-year-old subjects who had the early sign language exposure with previous results on orally trained deaf students. Results from both studies support the importance of easily accessible communication, i.e., a visual/gestural language mode, to social as well as intellectual development in deaf children. The study of social strategies found increasing importance of sign language. The structure and dynamic development of a group of children also had a great impact on an individual child's chances of success. The deaf eighth graders with early sign language showed superior achievement, particularly in understanding and use of written Swedish, but also in numerical and mathematical tests. (DB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Den 3 juni 2016 anordnades den 11:e internationella konferensen Invest in ME Research i London. B... more Den 3 juni 2016 anordnades den 11:e internationella konferensen Invest in ME Research i London. Bland deltagarna fran 18 olika lander fanns Kerstin Heiling (RME Sverige) och Henrik Fransson (RME Stockholm). Utifran vara minnesanteckningar beskriver vi har vad de olika forskarna formedlade, vilket kan beskrivas som ett pussel dar man nu ser hur bitar som tidigare varit atskilda borjar passa ihop.
OUP accepted manuscript
Journal Of Deaf Studies And Deaf Education
The majority of studies on mental health in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children report a high... more The majority of studies on mental health in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children report a higher level of mental health problems. Inconsistencies in reports of prevalence of mental health problems have been found to be related to a number of factors such as language skills, cognitive ability, heterogeneous samples as well as validity problems caused by using written measures designed for typically hearing children. This study evaluates the psychometric properties of the self-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Norwegian Sign Language (NSL; SDQ-NSL) and in written Norwegian (SDQ-NOR). Forty-nine DHH children completed the SDQ-NSL as well as the SDQ-NOR in randomized order and their parents completed the parent version of the SDQ-NOR and a questionnaire on hearing and language-related information. Internal consistency was examined using Dillon–Goldstein’s rho, test–retest reliability using intraclass correlations, construct validity by confirmato...
Learning Processes and Personality Development in Deaf Children
American Annals of the Deaf, 1981
La lectura y la escritura en niños sordos en contextos bilingües: una experiencia de veinte años de evaluación
Lenguaje Escrito Y Sordera Enfoques Teoricos Y Derivaciones Practicas 1999 Isbn 84 7299 461 9 Pags 109 124, 1999
This study examined whether the level of academic achievement changed when deaf pupils in Sweden ... more This study examined whether the level of academic achievement changed when deaf pupils in Sweden were introduced to sign communication at the preschool or kindergarten level. The study compared performance of 40 deaf students, attending a school for the deaf, on a comprehensive testing program (covering Swedish language and mathematical and numerical ability) in grade 8 with performance of deaf students on the same tests in the 1960s before early sign language was commonly encouraged. The study found significant differences in performance between the current students and their orally trained age-mates. The level of academic achievement had risen, although results from tests 'of general intellectual ability and spatial/perceptual ability remained the same. Current students were p,rticularly superior in the understanding and use of written Swedish, but the differen,..e was also evident in numerical and mathematical tests.
Review of papers presented at the Round Table session on social and emotional development in deaf children: services in four countries
Scandinavian Audiology, 2001
In the Round Table discussion after the keynote lecture given by anthropologist Laura Lakshmi Fjo... more In the Round Table discussion after the keynote lecture given by anthropologist Laura Lakshmi Fjord, presentations were given by Anna-Lena Tvingstedt, psychologist, PhD and research fellow, Malmö University College, Sweden; by Brita Edlund, Sign Language teacher and chair of the Finnish/Swedish association for parents of deaf children, Finland; by Dusan Kuhar, psychologist and family therapist at the Education center for deaf and hard-of-hearing children in Ljubljana, Slovenia and by Felicity Gifford, teacher of the deaf, State Coordinator of Services to Deaf and Hearing Impaired students, Department of Education, Tasmania, Australia. The focus of the session was set on needs and processes in a family when the diagnosis of a deaf child has just been given. This paper is a summary of the four presentations.
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Papers by Kerstin Heiling