Parents' Perception of Quality of Life of their Elementary School Children with Hearing Impairment Using Hearing Aids

Abstract

Background: Hearing impairment is the most common disabilities that have negative impact on the quality of life of affected children and their families. The aim of this study was to: assess parents' perception level of quality of life of their elementary school children with hearing impairment using hearing aids. Subjects and method: Study design: A descriptive study design was utilized in this study. Study settings: This study was conducted in audiology out-patient clinic of the School Health Insurance Hospital at Tanta City. Study subjects: A convenient sampling of 150 of elementary school students who diagnosed with hearing impairment using hearing aids and their parents which constitute 150 were included in the study. Tool of data collection: one tool was used by the researcher to collect the necessary data. Tool I: A structured interview schedule: this tool included five parts: Part (1): Socio-demographic characteristics of the students and their parents. Part (2): History of hearing impairment and using hearing aids. Part (3): History of the academic achievement of the students. Part (4): Children using hearing devices quality of life. Part (5): Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. Results: about half (47.3%) of the child's performance after fitting of hearing aids was fair, while less than half (42.7%) of them had good, less than two thirds (61.3%) of the studied school children' parents had a fair score regarding quality of life and nearly one fifth (20.0% and 18.7% respectively) of the studied school children' parents had a good and poor score. Also there was a highly significant positive correlation between levels of pediatric quality of life inventory of the studied school children and the levels of the studied school children parents of their children using hearing device quality of life as (p=0.000) and (r=0.407). Conclusion: It can be concluded that, less than two thirds of studied school children parents had a fair score according to their children using hearing devices quality of life. Recommendations: It was recommended that, written instructions about hearing aids in the form of booklets or brochures should be provided to each child with hearing impairment using hearing aids and their parents in order to encourage them in effective adherence to the plan of care.