Families experience with the deaf child - DOI: 10.4025/actascihealthsci.v26i1.1658

Abstract

The family plays a fundamental role in the person's development and in the health maintenance of its members. Most studies on families with deficiency have focused on etiology and on therapeutic methods instead of family´s experience. The aim of this study was to identify some aspects of families’ experience, as well as the difficulties and facilitators of relationship with a deaf person from the family´s perspective. A descriptive exploratory survey with deaf people's families attending Anpacin - Associação Norte Paranaense de Audio Comunicação Infantil (Paraná Association for children's audio communication) was performed. A semi-structured script to collect the data was used, and the analysis was categorized. By approaching the families, its structure, family's concept and the difficulties in dealing with deafness were known. Communication is the major difficulty faced by the family although school has facilitated the family relationship with the deaf person.