The Social Participation and Career Decision-Making of Hard-of-Hearing Adolescents in Regular Classes

This article reports on the social participation of hard-of-hearing adolescents attending integrated school settings with itinerant teacher support, and the relationship between the students' perceptions of their social participation and their social self-concept and career decision-making. As part of a mixed methods study investigating the career decision-making of hard-of-hearing Australian adolescents, 65 Year 10, 11 and 12 students with moderate to profound hearing losses were compared with 65 normally hearing students on a measure of social loneliness. A subsequent qualitative phase of the study, in which 12 students participated in interviews, further explored and expanded the quantitative findings. These findings have highlighted some implications for teachers and guidance counsellors.