Turkish adaptation of quality of life questionnaire for children with hearing loss and the assesment of the effects of hearing loss on quality of life among children aged 7-12


Nemli N., Bayramoğlu İ., Kemaloğlu Y. K.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PEDIATRIC OTORHINOLARYNGOLOGY, cilt.130, 2020 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

Özet

Monitoring the effects of Hearing Loss on Quality of Life, which is frequently seen on children and causes inefficiency in speech, education, and social development, is not only important for listening skills, using hearing devices, and linguistic and speech skills but also important for the treatment. And, if no treatment possible, then it is also critical for rehabilitation with different equipment. By making use of the Quality of Life Questionnaire, developed by Streufert at University of Washington in 2008 to Turkish and Turkish culture, this study was conducted in order to assess the effect of hearing loss of children between the age of 7 and 12 on their quality of life, as well as determining the effects of the hearing loss-related variables on the quality of life. The study was carried out on 115 kids between the ages of 7 and 12; 35 with unilateral HL, 45 with bilateral HL, and 35 of them without any hearing loss. The questionnaire was named İŞYAK (İşitme Kayıplılar için Yaşam Kalitesi Ölçeği - as with Turkish initials - Quality of Life Questionnaire for Hearing Loss). If the İŞYAK was confirmed on the sample in Turkish culture was examined by using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). In addition to CFA, the data obtained from the İŞYAK and Quality of Life Scale for Children (ÇİYKÖ) were compared by using variance analysis, and it was determined that there were significant differences between the normally hearing children and the children having hearing loss in terms of school, physical activity scores of ÇİYKÖ and all the dimensions of İŞYAK (environment, activity, emotions). In conclusion, besides the general similarities with the results obtained from the study on developing İŞYAK, differences were observed in the demographic variables. The statistical analyses conducted on İŞYAK showed that İŞYAK can be used both in clinical and as well as in rehabilitation centers as a special questionnaire for determining the quality of life for the kids with hearing loss with reliable and valid results.

Keywords: İ Ş Children; Hearing loss; Quality of life; Questionnaire; YAK.