Parental Distress: The Initial Phase of Hearing Aid and Cochlear Implant Fitting
By Burger, Thorsten; Spahn, Claudia; Richter, Bernhard; Eissele, Susanne; Lohle, Erwin; Bengel, Jurgen; American Annals of the Deaf, Vol. 150, No. 1, pp. 5-10Publication Date: 2005
Study examined the relationship between parental psychic state and their child's hearing and speech status and treatment events. The psychic attributes of 116 parents of children fitted with a hearing aid or a cochlear implant were examined at 2 different times during the initial phase of fitting. Over the course of the child's treatment, parental quality of life improved from a low to a normal level. Among children who at the stage of pre-examination for a cochlear implant, better hearing and speech capacity was linked to more severe impairment of the parental state. Parents whose children showed comparatively good language development at the time of pre-examination for a cochlear implant were especially subjected to stress.
Published by: Gallaudet University Press (Website:http://gupress.gallaudet.edu)
Council of American Instructors of the Deaf (Web Site: http://www.caid.org )
Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf (Web Site: http://www.ceasd.org )
