Citation

Wakeland E, Austen S, Rose J. J. Forensic Psychiatry Psychol. 2018; 29(3): 434-454.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/14789949.2017.1416659

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

It is thought that deaf or hard of hearing individuals are at greater risk of abuse than the hearing population. The purpose of this paper is to systematically examine and integrate existing literature to determine the prevalence rates of neglect, emotional, physical and sexual abuse and intimate partner violence (IPV). A set of inclusion and exclusion criteria was determined. Following this a comprehensive search of numerous databases was conducted. Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Eight studies reviewed the prevalence of sexual abuse, seven reviewed physical abuse, five reviewed emotional abuse, four reviewed neglect and six examined IPV. This exceeds 14 as numerous studies examined multiple types of abuse. Quality assessment indicated 12 studies were of 'moderate' quality and the remaining two were rated 'good' quality. Issues with similar samples, a tendency towards young, educated women within the IPV data, and small samples suggest caution is to be used when interpreting their results. The reliance on written measures and the absence of an interpreter or translation of materials in some studies further complicates the results. All types of abuse were found to be more prevalent within the deaf and hard of hearing population compared to the hearing population.

Language: en

Keywords

abuse; Deaf; hard of hearing; maltreatment; prevalence