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PECULIARITIES OF SOCIALIZATION OF CHILDREN WITH HEAVY HEALTH DISORDERS

A. V. Starshinova

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to explore the impact of childrenВ’s congenital maxillofacial pathology on the social development of young patients. We applied many survey techniques to measure attitudes. We conducted a 2-stages study among adolescents with congenital maxillofacial pathology at the medical and social rehabilitation center. Important advantage is that we also included in the random sample former adult patients of the center and the parents of the children. At the first stage, for the attitude questions we interviewed 122 patients and their parents with the help of a special questionnaire. At the second stage, we conducted 7 in-depth interviews. A key aspect of this stage is that teenagers, adults, and their parents also took part in 17 formalized interviews. With respect to the research results it was found that congenital maxillofacial pathology is associated with speech impairment and face changes, which result in difficulties in communicating with other people. The most important psychologically relevant finding was that the respondents recognized that the difficulties in communication were the most tangible ones for them and even more significant than the changes in the face. Simultaneously, the survey participants admitted that the defects in speech influenced their relations with peers, relatives, teachers, colleagues at work. They stressed that the difficulties of speech development and specific features of appearance especially influenced the attitude of peers and unfamiliar people towards them. It can therefore be assumed that the relations with peers were a priority for them in adolescence age. It was these relations that were the main cause of the crisis states and a source of constant experiences. There is much evidence that the consequences of severe health problems at birth were also being felt. The paper concludes that the problem is not only in improving medical rehabilitation technologies, but also in changing public stereotypes of people with atypical appearance and speech characteristics.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgemsocial2017/33/S12.093

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