Parental anxiety in cochlear implanted children's family

Abstract

Background and aim: Early rehabilitation such as cochlear implantation is an effective way to reduce the negative effects of hearing impairment in children. Parents of hearing impaired children may feel anger, sorrow, guiltiness and anxiety. The aims of this study were measurement of anxiety level experienced by parents of children with CI and comparison between the level of experienced anxiety in parents of children with CI and parents of children with normal hearing. Materials and methods: This study was carried out on 25 parents whose child had cochlear implanted for six months and also 25 parents of normal children. Parents' demographic data were collected. The Beck anxiety inventory was given to parents of both groups. The results were analyzed according to the questionnaire instructions. Results: Parents' average age was 32.56 +/- 4.4 and 31.76 +/- 5.25 in the cochlear implant group and normal group respectively. No significant correlation between parents' educational level and the score achieved by the Beck anxiety inventory was observed (p>.05). There was significant difference between the scores of the parents of cochlear implanted children and normal group (p<.05). Mild, moderate and severe anxiety levels were observed in 44 of the cochlear implanted children's parents. On the other hand, 32 had mild and moderate anxiety levels and no severe anxiety was observed in normal hearing children's parents. Conclusion: This study indicated significantly higher total average and also higher levels of anxiety in the parents of cochlear implanted children. Therefore, these parents' anxiety levels affected their environment. Therefore, in order to prevent raising anxiety level in families with cochlear implanted child, controlling the environmental factors that affect families' life should take place. In this way, a cochlear implanted child will have a smoother learning road ahead.