Suchergebnisse

There is little existing research on why some people stockpile goods and others do not at a time of crisis. More research on this phenomenon and the individual differences associated with it is needed in order to gain a better understanding of what is a potentially economically and socially disruptive behavior. In this study, 175 adult participants from Denmark and 90 from the United Kingdom responded to a survey about the activity of extra shopping (stockpiling) during the first weeks of the Coronavirus outbreak. Questions exploring the "big five" personality traits, Social Dominance Orientation, Health Literacy, and attitudes to the governmental response to the crisis were included in the survey. The explorative analysis showed that stockpiling was associated with high scores on Extraversion and Neuroticism, and low scores on Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience. Stockpiling was also associated with the view that the government should be doing more to stop the Coronavirus epidemic. An explorative factor analysis of reasons for stockpiling identified the two factors "Panic" and "Action".

The aim of this study is to report on the characteristics of a population of 916 individuals with acquired deafblindness receiving national Danish counselling and rehabilitation services. Age, gender, prevalence, social status, and communication mode are some of the data included in this study. Results show that 70% of the population was older than 79 years, 15% was between 65 and 79 years, and 15% of the population was younger than 65 years. Oral speech was used by 86%, sign language by 10%, and tactile sign language by 4%. Among individuals younger than 65 years, less than 50% was employed or in education. Results are discussed with respect to the organization of the Danish counselling and rehabilitation service system.

For many reasons an accurate and straightforward identification of congenital deafblindness can be difficult. This article reports on the assessment procedures and experience in Denmark where medical examinations were combined with functional assessments performed through direct observation. The study evaluated the assessment procedure of 190 children and adults found to be congenitally deafblind. Among the 190 individuals 76 percent were determined using functional assessment in addition to medical examination. A case example involving a 12-year-old child is also presented to illustrate the complexity in identifying congenital deafblindness. It is concluded that determining deafblindness should not be limited to medical procedures (vision and hearing tests) alone, but may also involve a lengthy process to assess the level of sense functioning the individual possesses.

People with congenital deafblindness (CDB) are a heterogenic group, and CDB is defined in a variety of ways in the scientific literature. In this study, we aim to examine whether some of the heterogeneity may be more easily resolved from the perspective of ability than from the perspective of impairment. In order to do this, we take as a starting point for our investigations the communication systems that are used and the different sense modalities they require. Information about almost the entire known population of children with CDB in Denmark (age = 3–18 years, N = 71) was collected using a questionnaire form, covering degree of visual and hearing impairments, intellectual disability, level of expressive communication and use of communication systems. No correlation was found between severity of CDB based on degree of sensory impairment and level of intellectual and communicative disability within the population. However, whether or not the child with CDB was able to make use of residual senses to access a linguistic culture (spoken or signed) correlated significantly with both cognitive and communicative ability. In addition, the two groups had inverse correlations between number of systems used for communication and communicative ability. The actual systems used for communication may be useful for categorizing people with CDB into severity subgroups for scientific study and for intervention planning. In addition, the acquisition of a tactile language for the subgroup of people with CDB who do not utilize a visual or auditory linguistic culture should be given special attention in research and practice.

To be born deaf and blind creates both communicative and language acquisition barriers for a child. Although case studies, research, and practical reports have described the severe communicative delay that children with congenital deafblindness (CDB) often experience, to date, no population studies have given a systematic overview of the characteristics of communication, language use, and language acquisition. This study investigates modes of communication and level of language acquisition among 71 children with CDB using the Rowland Communication Matrix and a questionnaire form. Results show heterogeneity in use of communication mode, vocabulary, and level of language development. Communication was distributed across modalities with 23% using tactile language, 32% oral language, and 39% visual sign language. With regard to the level of language acquisition, 41% used pre-verbal communication, 42% verbal communication (tactile, visual, or oral) but with delay, and 18% verbal communication (tactile, visual, or oral) without any delay. Similar heterogeneity was reflected on vocabulary count and score on the Rowland Communication Matrix. Children with CDB are not a uniform group, and more research is needed in order to map out the diversity found.

Objectives: The loss of both hearing and vision (dual sensory loss) affects communication and potentially challenges the ability to maintain healthy social relations. The aim of this study was to examine the association between severity of sensory loss and relational strain among older adults with acquired dual sensory loss. Method: Data were collected through a national cross-sectional questionnaire survey and an administrative database. A total of 302 individuals with functional dual sensory loss ⩾50 years of age participated (66% response). Relational strain was measured as the perceived experience of excessive demands, worries, and conflicts with children, other relatives, or the personal support worker. Data were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression. Results: No associations between severity of dual sensory loss and excessive demands from or worries for children, other relatives, or personal support workers were found. Participants with total blindness and profound deafness had significantly higher odds for experiencing conflicts with children (odds ratio [OR] = 3.09, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.02, 9.38]) and the personal support worker (OR = 4.18, 95% CI = [1.23, 4.28]) compared to participants with residuals of both senses. Discussion: Individuals with total blindness and profound deafness might require special attention in rehabilitation to support them in maintaining healthy social relations.

The present study provides an overview of aetiologies and co-morbidities of acquired deafblindness in a Danish national sample of 514 individuals above 50 years of age identified with acquired deafblindness. Information was obtained from a survey and a register. The most frequent aetiology of vision loss was age-related macular degeneration (55.4%). The most frequent aetiology of hearing loss was presbycusis (53.7%). The most frequent aetiology of acquired deafblindness was the combination of age-related macular degeneration and presbycusis (41.5%). However, among the younger participants (50–59 years of age), Usher syndrome was the most common aetiology (62.5%). The aetiologies of acquired deafblindness are many and constituted by several different combinations of hearing and vision loss aetiologies. The most frequent aetiologies are age related.