Development of Measures for d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing Stigma: Introduction to the Special Supplement on Stigma Measurement Tools
People who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing (d/DHH) often experience stigma and discrimination in their daily lives. Qualitative research describing their lived experiences has provided useful, in-depth insights into the pervasiveness of stigma. Quantitative measures could facilitate further investigation of the scope of this phenomenon. Thus, under the auspices of the Lancet Commission on Hearing Loss, we developed and preliminarily validated survey measures of different types of stigma related to d/Deafness and hearing loss in the United States (a high-income country) and Ghana (a lower-middle income country). In this introductory article, we first present working definitions of the different types of stigma; an overview of what is known about stigma in the context of hearing loss; and the motivation underlying the development of measures that capture different types of stigma from the perspectives of different key groups. We then describe the mixed-methods exploratory sequential approach used to develop the stigma measures for several key groups: people who are d/DHH, parents of children who are d/DHH, care partners of people who are d/DHH, healthcare providers, and the general population. The subsequent manuscripts in this special supplement of Ear and Hearing describe the psychometric validation of the various stigma scales developed using these methods.
Authors
- Emma Gyamera
- Suneela Garg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2196-1607)
- John D. Kraemer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8769-3393)
- Laura Nyblade (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8067-4192)
- Melissa A. Stockton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0737-7180)
- Nana Akua Victoria Owusu
- Khalida Saalim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5463-2738)
- Shelly Chadha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5789-7259)
- Г А Таварткиладзе (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0118-908X)
- Joni Alberg
- Rachel D. Stelmach (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4903-4995)
- E. T. Adams (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3346-4314)
- Howard W. Francis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2231-429X)
- Sherri L. Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8483-3215)
- Margaret Wallhagen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4988-2337)
- Debara L. Tucci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9692-6267)
- Lisa Davis
- Catherine McMahon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7312-6593)
- Gabriel Madson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0411-190X)
- Marco Nyarko
- Jessica West (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8320-8998)
- Bolajoko O. Olusanya (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3826-0583)
- Blake S. Wilson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0858-1781)
- Neal Boafo
- Lawrence G. Musa
- A. E. Preston
- Jenny Jae Won Chung
Institutions
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Duke University (US)
- RTI International (US)
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- Georgetown University (US)
- Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (GH)
- National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (IN)
- Ghana Education Service (GH)
- Centre for Healthy Start Initiative (NG)
- World Health Organization (CH)
- Russian Medical Academy of Continuous Professional Education (RU)
- Duke University Health System (US)
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (US)
- Gallaudet University (US)
- Macquarie University (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Ear and Hearing
- Published
- 2024-09-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1097/aud.0000000000001543
- Citations
- 12
- Primary Topic
- Hearing Impairment and Communication
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 9.49
Funders
- World Health Organization
- RTI International
- Fondation Pour l'Audition
- Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders