‘I wish I had known to prepare for that’. Wife, mother, and patient: The impact on family dynamics post-implantation

Abstract

Critical assessment is accepted as a key stage in the evaluation of potential recipients of cochlear implants. As patients, we expect the assessment to be thorough, ensuring we have a suitable profile, that our expectations are being suitably managed, and that we are likely to achieve good results from our implant. This paper explores some of the practicalities of our family-life pre-implant and how they were impacted and changed post-initial tuning. Drawing from personal experience it is demonstrated how the re-discovery of sound for me meant a change in behaviour, perception, and role for my husband and daughter. The potential benefits that might have been achieved are discussed looking at the needs and dynamics of the family, as a whole, had they been considered and evaluated as an integral part of my assessment. Evaluation of the family would have identified how the family unit worked at home; methods of communication used, the family perception of what would happen after initial tuning, and how these might impact them during my rehabilitation.

Keywords:

• Dynamics
• Family
• Expectations
• Experience
• Assessment
• Cochlear implants
• Impact
• Rehabilitation