Health-related quality of life in South African children who use cochlear implants

Abstract

Objective: To describe health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes of school-going paediatric cochlear implant (CI) recipients in a South African cohort from the perspectives of parents.

Design: Parents of school-going CI recipients completed the Children with Cochlear Implants: Parental Perspectives (CCIPP) CI-specific HRQoL questionnaire. The effect of different demographic variables on HRQoL outcomes was also determined.

Study sample: The study sample included 54 parents of school-going (mean age = 12.2 years; SD = 3.6; range = 6.6–18.3 years) CI recipients with at least six months CI experience.

Results: Children’s communication and general functioning with a CI received the most positive parental ratings. Among a number of confirmed statistically significant (p < 0.05) associations between HRQoL outcomes and demographic variables, pre-lingual onset of deafness was linked to better HRQoL in terms of general functioning and well-being. While shorter duration of deafness and unilateral implantation were associated with higher parental ratings for self-reliance and well-being respectively, longer duration of CI use was linked to improved HRQoL outcomes in terms of general functioning.

Conclusion: Parents assigned positive ratings to their child’s HRQoL. This exploration of children’s HRQoL related to their CIs contributes to evidence-based paediatric CI services that promote optimal psychosocial outcomes.

Keywords:

• Cochlear implant
• health-related quality of life
• outcomes
• parents
• paediatric cochlear implantation
• quality of life

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the support of involved professionals from the three participating CI programmes (Pretoria Cochlear Implant Unit, Johannesburg Cochlear Implant Centre and Durban Cochlear Implant Programme) who contributed towards data collection for this study. Andries Masenge is to be acknowledged for his guidance and valuable support with the data analysis.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.