The elderly population in America is expected to more than double over the next half century. Consequently, the corresponding growth of the culturally Deaf1 elderly population becomes important to examine. Because this population is a subgroup of both the hearing elderly and culturally Deaf populations, the expectation is that mental health professionals working with Deaf elderly clients will have specific concerns and will behave in ways that are specific to this population. Little is known, however, about the issues that challenge mental health professionals working with elderly Deaf clients. This study surveyed mental health professionals serving elderly Deaf clients with respect to experiences and behaviors that have ethical implications. These mental health professionals were asked to respond to a questionnaire that inquired about the prominence and frequency of ethical problems or common ethical issues related to serving an elderly Deaf population. The responses to this survey were compared to those of other mental health professionals from a previous study that examined the same issues with the hearing elderly population.
1“The use of Deaf for culturally Deaf and deaf for audio logically deaf is now standard in the field of deafness” (Glickman, 2003). “The capitalization of the word ‘Deaf’ is often used to denote an identification of an individual with the Deaf community. This implies a linguistic and cultural understanding, and comfort in being identified as Deaf” (Paul, 1993). “The use of the term Deaf in this context carries no stigma of impairment and allows for sociocultural discussion” (Reagan, 1990).