Social representations of “tinnitus” and “health” among individuals with tinnitus seeking online psychological interventions
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Date
Authors
Manchaiah, Vinaya
Chundu, Srikanth
Ratinaud, Pierre
Andersson, Gerhard
Beukes, Eldre W.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI
Abstract
OBJECTIVE : Social representations theory (SRT) is a body of theory within social psychology concerned with how individuals, groups, and communities collectively make sense of socially relevant or problematic issues, ideas, and practices. SRT has been increasingly sued in the area of health and disability. The current study examined the social representations of “tinnitus” and “health” among individuals with tinnitus who are seeking online psychological interventions. MATERIALS/METHOD : The data were gathered using a free association task about their “tinnitus” and “health” from 399 individuals with tinnitus. The data were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative analyses methods. RESULTS : The responses resulted in 39 and 30 categories respectively, for “tinnitus” and “health”. The most commonly occurring categories for tinnitus included: descriptions of tinnitus (18%), annoying (13.5%), persistent (8%), and distracting (5%). The most commonly occurring categories for health included: content (12%), conditions (8%), active (7%), take control (6%), and overweight (5%). The responses to tinnitus had predominantly negative connotations (i.e., 76.9%) whereas a larger proportion of responses toward their health was related to positive connotations (i.e., 46.4%). These frequently occurring items were also dominant in similarities analysis. Prototypical analysis of tinnitus responses identified categories horrible and bothersome to be key items in the central zone. The categories in central zone of health responses included: content, active, healthy, grateful, and overweight. CONCLUSIONS : Individuals with tinnitus have very negative view of their tinnitus impacting their psychological status. Tinnitus management should focus on reducing the negative associations toward their tinnitus and strengthen the positive aspects related to their general health.
Description
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in Figshare at http://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13681924 (accessed on 15 December 2022).
Keywords
Tinnitus, Health, Social representations, Attitude, Free association, Social representations theory (SRT), SDG-03: Good health and well-being
Sustainable Development Goals
Citation
Manchaiah, V.; Chundu, S.;
Ratinaud, P.; Andersson, G.; Beukes,
E.W. Social Representations of
“Tinnitus” and “Health” among
Individuals with Tinnitus Seeking
Online Psychological Interventions.
Audiology Research 2023, 13, 207–220.
https://doi.org/10.3390/audiolres13020020.