Development of a Social Communication Questionnaire (QSC-ID) for People With Intellectual Disability in a Deaf Sample: A Pilot and Feasibility Study

Shining a light on disability and health communication

Examining health inequities in the context of communication related to health and health care is important for creating health equity. There has been an increasing number of studies conducting health communication research to address inequities, but research that has prioritized people with disabilities remains limited. Over the past year, there has been a growing focus on disability and health research, including peer-reviewed papers in this volume. The health communication field can build on this momentum to continue to focus on disability in topics related to health information, misinformation, health literacy, interpersonal communication, media campaigns, media representation, digital health, communication technologies, and more.

Communicative deficits associated with maladaptive behavior in individuals with deafness and special needs

BACKGROUND

At least one in three individuals who are prelingually deaf has special needs, most commonly due to intellectual disabilities. The scant literature on challenging behavior in this population, however, suggests high rates of prevalence and an important need to better understand the contributing factors.

AIM

We sought to analyze the prevalence of maladaptive behavior and its association with intellectual functioning, adaptive skills, language skills, and social communication in a population of adults with deafness and special needs.

METHODS

Participants were 61 individuals from three therapeutic living communities established for people with deafness and special needs. The participants had a mean age of 54.7 years, 64% were male. Intellectual functioning was measured with two versions of the Snijders-Oomen Non-verbal Intelligence Scale. The Vineland-II Scales were used to assess adaptive and maladaptive behavior. Language skills were measured with instruments specifically adapted for this population, including the Reynell Developmental Language Comprehension Scale, the comprehension scale of the Child Development Inventory, and the Profile of Multiple Language Proficiencies. Due to high correlations between instruments, a composite language score was used. A specific questionnaire to measure social communication in adults with intellectual disabilities was also utilized.

RESULTS

The mean nonverbal developmental reference age was 6.5 years, whereas the equivalent for the language measures was about 3.5 years. The prevalence rate of elevated maladaptive behavior was 41% (v-scale score ≥18) and 18% of the participants had a clinically significant score (v-scale score ≥21). Regression analyses showed that only language and social communication skills were significantly associated with maladaptive behavior, while intellectual functioning and adaptive skills were not.

CONCLUSION

These findings emphasize the importance of the constant promotion of communicative skills, as those people with better language and social communication skills demonstrate lower levels of maladaptive behavior.