COMPARISON OF SELF-ESTEEM BETWEEN HEARING IMPAIRED PEOPLE WHO PARTICIPATED SPORTS OR DO NOT.

Hearing impairment is a worldwide problem, and the World Health Organization estimated that 360 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss. Hearing impaired; inability to verbal function in daily life due to partial or total hearing loss. Speech and language delays in the hearing-impaired individuals and the problems in communication could affect the individual's life negatively. Self-esteem is important for mental health. Self-esteem is the value that the individual gives himself when he evaluates himself as a human being. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the level of self-esteem between hearing-impaired individuals who do sports and do not sport. Materials and Method: In totally 91 hearing-impaired individuals aged between 15 to 25 years who do sport (n=44, 48.4%) and do not play sport (n=47, 51.6%) participated in the study. The Turkish version of Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale was used to assess participants' self-esteem. The scale consists of 10 items measuring general self-esteem. Responses to the scale are evaluated with 0-6 points. It is accepted that 0 -1 points are "high", 2-4 points are "middle”, and 5-6 points are "low" self-esteem. Results: The average age of hearing-impaired individuals who do or do not play sports is 19,16 ± 3,18 and 20,34 ± 2,92 years, respectively. The average duration of participating in sports is 5.93 ± 3.39 years in the individual with hearing impaired who do play sport. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale average scores were 0,84±0,59 for who play sport hearing impaired group and 1,53±0,77 for who do not play sport hearing impaired group. The difference between the groups was statistically significant (p <0.05). Discussion and Conclusion: The results of our study suggest that participation in sports activity improved self esteem in individual with hearing impairment. Self-esteem affects the quality of life of the individuals. Previous studies showed that people with disabilities are much more likely of living sedentary than are those without a disability. It is advised that to supported for active lifestyle by participating in sportive activities in order to improve the self-esteem in the individuals with hearing impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]