Child and Caregiver Perspectives Towards Facial Appearance in Children With Microtia With or Without Craniofacial Microsomia Using a Newly Developed Likert Scale.

Craniofacial microsomia (CFM) is the second most common congenital craniofacial malformation characterized by asymmetric malformation of the ear and mandible. Numerous studies have reported the importance of child perspective and psychosocial issues in patients with craniofacial abnormalities. However, clinical tools to evaluate child and caregiver perspectives in patients with microtia with or without CFM have been limited or not reported in the literature. The authors aimed to (1) To develop a tool for measuring patient and caregiver evaluation of facial appearance as it relates to microtia and craniofacial microsomia (CFM). (2) To utilize this tool in comparing children, between 7 and 20 years of age, and caregiver perspectives towards facial appearance in patients with microtia with or without craniofacial microsomia (CFM). A prospective single center study conducted from 2016 to 2017 using newly developed 13-item (Microtia) and 27-item (CFM) 5-point Likert scale Likert scale questionnaires given to patients with CFM and caregivers at a craniofacial center. Aged 7 to 20 (N = 25) and their caregivers. A total of 25 patients (13 male, 12 female; mean age at time of survey 13.2 ± 3.7) met criteria for the study. The Likert scale developed and presented in this study may be a useful tool for clinical use in investigating patient and caregiver perspectives for planning surgical timeline. Based on our pilot data it is important to incorporate all voices into decision-making on timing.