[Psychological stress, knowledge and treatment expectation of parents with a child managed by cochlear implant].
ESTABLISHED KNOWLEDGE: It is known that parents of hard-of-hearing children suffer from an increase in psychosocial stress.


OBJECTIVE
How does the psychosocial situation of parents with children who have cochlear implants change during rehabilitation?


OBJECTIVE
It was the aim of this study to demonstrate how parents evaluate retrospectively their own psychological well-being during the process of rehabilitation.


RESULTS
We interviewed 87 parents by questionnaires which were mailed to them. Fifty-seven mothers and 46 fathers responded (59% return rate). Parents reported a significant increase in stress, as perceived by themselves, after the time of diagnosis. Of the parents, 25% continued to suffer from psychic stress during rehabilitation as could be demonstrated by the SCL-90-R questionnaire criteria. The expectations by parents were realistic prior to implantation but thereafter increased significantly with time.


CONCLUSIONS
The psychological state of parents during the critical phase, after a diagnosis of deafness has been made for their child, has to be considered. Even after an initial phase of shock, parents seemed to be stressed to an extent that required therapeutic intervention.
Richter
B
B
Sektion Phoniatrie/Pädaudiologie, HNO-Klinik, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. richter@hno1.ukl.uni-freiburg.de
Spahn
C
C
Zschocke
I
I
Leuchter
M
M
Laszig
R
R
Löhle
E
E
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003054:Cochlear Implants / Q000523:psychology*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003638:Deafness / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011936:Reality Testing; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*