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Quality of life in adults with cochlear implants
Author(s) -
COOPER FRANCESCA
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
international journal of language and communication disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.101
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1460-6984
pISSN - 1368-2822
DOI - 10.1111/j.1460-6984.1995.tb01765.x
Subject(s) - vitality , quality of life (healthcare) , psychology , cochlear implant , audiology , conversation , gerontology , medicine , communication , philosophy , theology , psychotherapist
A postal questionnaire was given to 18 adults aged between 16–74 with acquired hearing loss, one month before, and one and six months after their Nucleus multi‐channel cochlear implant was ‘switched on’. Improvements in quality of life (QOL) on both disease‐specific and generic measures after ‘switch on’ were revealed. Overall QOL was measured on a 10 cm visual analogue scale, which showed a mean improvement of 20% after ‘switch on’ (p<0.001). An adapted version of the Patient Generated Index of QOL enabled subjects to elicit and rate the important areas of their QOL. Improvements were revealed in social life, music, self‐confidence, conversation, groups, miscellaneous sounds, telephone and work, but the initial improvements in telephone use and work were not maintained at six months after ‘switch on’. The improvements at one month after ‘switch on’ were as much as/the same as had been hoped for, but after six months, the changes experienced were mot as much as had been desired, and subjects may have been disappointed by the extent of change. Three dimensions from the generic SF‐36 health status questionnaire revealed that before ‘switch on’, subjects' mean scores were below the UK norms, but after ‘switch on’ they were at or above norms. Improvements were revealed in mental health (p<0.01), social functioning (p<0.001), and vitality (p<0.001) and in a disease‐specific dimension ‘isolation’ (p<0.001). Areas of counselling are identified especially regarding patients' expectations of the extent of change.