Self-Assessment of Paternity in Men Raising Children with Impaired Hearing. Part II. Empirical Research

Abstract

Paternity to a deaf child is a big challenge, while the attention of researchers and practitioners focuses mainly on the experiences and role of the mother. Therefore, the increasing number of scientific reports on the experiences of the father in this situation, his paternal role and the importance of his involvement in the upbringing of the child should be noted with appreciation. The article presents the results of 14 fathers’ research by means of a diagnostic survey using a self-assessment questionnaire and M. Ziemska’s Parents’ Questionnaire. On the basis of the research results it can be concluded that fathers of deaf children understand paternity as a responsibility for the child and a duty to meet its needs; they evaluate themselves as good fathers; most of them try to support the development of their child by participating in its everyday activities, rehabilitation, important life events and instilling the hierarchy of values, but they attribute to their wife a much greater role in the child’s everyday life and in supporting it emotionally; they perceive their child with hearing loss as independent, yet in need of more care and attention than a child with hearing loss; fathers differ in parental attitudes, some adopt an attitude of over-abundance, control and helplessness, half of them with an attitude of distance. Undoubtedly, fathers, like the rest of the family (or rather the family as a system), require various forms of help and support, including psychological support.