title: Social identity management strategies used by workers with acquired hearing loss.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is a paucity of knowledge about social identity-management by persons with hearing loss. The objective of the study was to gain an understanding from the perspective of the participants, the ways in which workers with acquired hearing loss manage their identity in the workplace.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve persons with acquired hearing loss, who were gainfully employed in a variety of settings and occupations in three Canadian cities, participated in audio-recorded semi-structured interviews.
  
  
  METHODS
  A secondary qualitative analysis was conducted on transcripts of interviews collected in a previous study on factors that influence disclosure of hearing loss in the workplace. A qualitative descriptive research paradigm was adopted and content analyses were used to extract pertinent information from verbatim transcripts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants described a range of identity-management strategies enacted in the workplace. Five recurrent themes emerged as important considerations in the Art of Identity Management in the workplace: 1. Managing the situation, 2. Having a buddy system, 3. Feeling comfortable, 4. Using personal resources, 5. It gets easier with time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Social identity-management is a complex process. Although persons with acquired hearing loss experience different challenges from other persons with invisible stigmas, similarities in the range of social identity-management strategies employed were evident in our findings. In addition, the social cognitive learning model of disclosure appears to be relevant to the experiences of our participants. The implications of the findings emphasize the importance of all stakeholders working collaboratively to address the issues of the growing population of workers with hearing loss.
authors.affiliation: School of Communication Sciences and Disorders and National Centre for Audiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Mary Beth
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Jennings
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Southall
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Gagné
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002170:Canada; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities; D011287:Prejudice; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012933:Social Identification
keywords: Acquired hearing loss; disclosure; stigma; strategies