ENVIRONMENTAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS AS DETERMINANTS OF HEARING-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFEAMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENT IN OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

A good Hearing-related Quality of Life (HQL) which includes social, emotional and academic wellbeing is essential for the healthy living of Adolescents with Hearing Impairment (AwHIs). However, records have shown that the three components of AwHIs’ HQL in Oyo State are low with grave consequences on the adolescents’ active participation in school and home activities. This trend has been attributed to environmental and psychological factors. Previous studies focused largely on AwHIs’ academic achievement and social adjustment with little emphasis on the influence of environmental and psychological factors on their HQL. This study, therefore, was carried out to investigate environmental (school climate and home environment) and psychological (self-efficacy and locus of control) factors as determinants of HQL among secondary school AwHIs in Oyo State, Nigeria. The study was anchored to Maslow Hierarchy of Needs Theory, while the survey design of the correlational type was used. Eight senior secondary schools with hearing impairment units in Oyo State were enumerated. These schools were Okere Secondary Grammar School (16); Ogbomoso Grammar School (6); IMG Grammar School, Agodi-Gate (21); Methodist Grammar School, Ibadan (64); Baptist Grammar School, Eruwa (5); IMG Secondary School, Oke-Ado, Ibadan (15); Durba Grammar School, Oyo (20); and Ijokodo High School, Ibadan (44). The AwHIs in the senior secondary classes I to III across the eight schools were enumerated, making a total of 191. The instruments used were HQL Questionnaire with three sub-scales: Social (r=0.76), Emotional (r=0.84) and Academic (r=0.72) wellbeing. Home Environment (r=0.86), General Self-efficacy (r=0.76), Locus of Control (r=0.82) and School Climate (r=0.94) scales were also used. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product moment correlation and Multiple regression at 0.05 level of significance. The respondents’ age was 17.30±3.60 years and 58.1% were females. The AwHIs living with their immediate family alone constituted 63.4% and those that were living with their extended family was (36.7%). The AwHIs parents’ qualification distribution was Senior School Certificate (52.4%), NCE/ND (22.5%), HND/Bachelor (14.1%) and Masters/Ph.D (11.0%). The AwHIs parents’ occupations were civil servants (19.4%), Technicians (3.6%), Artisans (41.4%), Business men/women (31.4%) and others (4.2%). The HQL in terms of social (x ̅ = 23.7) and emotional (x ̅ = 26.3) were low as against the threshold of 28.0, while their academic HQL (x ̅ = 29.2) was high.Self-efficacy (r=0.21) and school climate (r=0.15) had significant relationships with AwHIs’ HQL but locus of control and home environment did not. School climate, home environment, self-efficacy and locus of control jointly contributed to AwHIs’ HQL (F(4;186)=3.24, Adjusted R2=0.45), accounting for 45.0% of its variance. Self-efficacy (β=0.21) had a relative contribution to AwHI’s HQL, while school climate, home environment and locus of control did not. Self-efficacy determined hearing-related quality of life of adolescents with hearing impairment in Oyo State, Nigeria. This factor should be improved upon by teachers and parents of adolescents with hearing impairment, for improved hearing-related quality of life.