News from the Deaf Wellness Center (updated 11/10/09)

RID GRANT RESULTS TO APPEAR IN NEXT VIEWS
DEPRESSION AWARENESS TV AD CAMPAIGN
DC-S INSTRUCTION FILM SERIES
4 NEW PUBLICATIONS
2 NEW GRANTS
UPCOMING LECTURES AND WORKSHOPS

RID Research Grant Results are In: The Deaf Wellness Center received the 2009 Research Grant from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf to conduct a study on the occupational health risks faced by sign language interpreters. The study was designed as a larger, replication study follow-up to a similar project conducted with data gathered in 2005. Four interpreter work settings (VRS, K-12, community-freelance, and "staff") were compared, using a well-established measure of occupational health and health risks. The findings of the larger, on-line survey study (over 450 participants) have just been analyzed and were found to replicate the 2005 study extremely closely. In brief, interpreters in general report greater occupational health risks and problems than normative groups from other occupations, including on measures of depression, psychological stress, and physical exertion. On numerous variables examined, VRS and K-12 interpreter reported significantly higher degrees of occupational health risk than interpreters in the other two interpreting work settings, with VRS interpreters usually reporting signficantly higher degrees of risk than the K-12 group. Details of the study will be published in the next issue of RID VIEWS and, later, in a peer-reviewed academic journal. For further information, contact Robyn Dean.

DWC Launches Depression Awareness TV Ad Campaign
An exciting project intended to raise Deaf community awareness about depression reached it's high point on May 6th. At a press conference in Rochester, NY the DWC officially released three public service announcements (PSAs) that will be broadcast on local television and distributed over the Internet. The 30, 45, and 60-second PSAs feature deaf professionals and deaf actors and are narrated by former Sesame Street star, Linda Bove. The PSAs are expected to make a big impact on hearing and deaf viewers alike. The dialogue is entirely in American Sign Language and the PSAs are completely silent. There is no sound track of any kind and no subtitles. (They are closed-captioned.) You can view the PSAs by clicking here. It is our hope that these PSAs will help the local and national Deaf communities learn more about the warning signs of depression and the importance of seeking help early. Support for this exciting project came from the American Psychiatric Foundation, the Ad Council of Rochester, Roberts Communications, Inc., and Eastman Kodak Company.

New DC-S Instructional Film Series
Robyn Dean, M.A., CI/CT has produced a sequence of four high-quality films that teach the basics of the Demand Control Schema for Interpreting Work (DC-S). Each of the ~25 minute films feature engaging animated graphics and Robyn Dean's own narration. For further information, click here.

Latest Publications (contact Robert Pollard to receive copies) :
Dean, R. K. & Pollard, R. Q (2009, Fall). “I don't think we're supposed to be talking about this:” Case conferencing and supervision for interpreters. VIEWS , 26, 28-30.

Pollard, R. Q, Dean, R. K., O'Hearn, A. M. & Haynes, S. L. (2009). Adapting health education material for deaf audiences. Rehabilitation Psychology, 54 (2), 232-238 .

Pollard, R. Q & Barnett, S. (2009). Health-related vocabulary knowledge among deaf adults. Rehabilitation Psychology, 54 (2), 182-185 .

Pollard, R. Q & Dean, R. K. (Eds.) (2008). Applications of Demand Control Schema in Interpreter Education. (Proceedings of the August 3, 2007 pre-conference meeting at the national convention of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf.) Rochester, NY : University of Rochester. [$25 charge per copy.]

Click here to view all our available publications.

New Grants:
The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education, has once again provided funding to the Deaf Wellness Center. This newest grant ($200,000) is to conduct a research study regarding the Signed Paired Associates Test (SPAT). The SPAT is a sign language-based test of learning and memory developed by DWC director, Robert Pollard, along with colleagues from the University of California San Francisco. This latest study will compare the results of SPAT administration by sign-fluent clinicians versus administration by clinicians working with sign language interpreters. If the interpreted administration condition yields equivalent results, this would suggest that the SPAT could be employed much more widely than it is today. Sign language-based tests of verbal learning and memory are needed assist in the diagnosis and evaluation of many types of brain impairment that affect language functioning. Verbal tests that are based on the English language are usually not valid for use with sign language-using deaf individuals. The SPAT is one of two sign language-based tests of verbal cognitive functioning developed at the DWC. See our publications list for further information about these tests.

The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) has awarded their 2009 Research Grant ($15K) to Robyn Dean and Robert Pollard for a project entitled: The Impact of Work Settings on Interpreters' Occupational Health: A National Follow-up Study. The study, which will conclude at the end of 2009, is an expansion of a study we conducted at the 2005 RID convention which, among other findings, showed high levels of occupational health risks among interpreters generally and particularly high levels among interpreters who work in VRS and K-12 educational settings. The new study will employ an on-line version of the study instrument (the Job Content Questionairre) which hopefully will draw a much larger and geographically diverse sample of interpreter respondents. For further information about this project, including how to participate (if you are an interpretere) contact Robyn Dean.

For further information regarding ongoing grant-supported projects at the Deaf Wellness Center, click here.

Upcoming Lectures and Workshops:
Dates: February 6 & 7, 2010
Location: NYC
Topic: DC-S and Supervision
Contact: Corrie Pond of NYC MetroRID, corriecar@gmail.com

Dates: March 5 & 6, 2101
Location: Sioux Falls, SD
Topic: Intro to DC-S
Contact: Marlee Dyce of SDIA, marleedyce@yahoo.com

Dates: April 24 & 25
Location: Chicago, IL
Topic: DC-S and Mental Health Interpreting
Contact: Tim Mahoney, austincop@aol.com

For further information on any of the above topics, visit the relevant sections of our website by following the links on the left side of our home page or by following the site map (see link at left).

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