The Pediatric Cochlear Implant Use Questionnaire: Assessing Habits and Barriers to Use.

OBJECTIVE

The objective was to design a questionnaire called the Pediatric Cochlear Implant Use Questionnaire (PCIUQ) to identify daily habits of pediatric cochlear implant (CI) use and the barriers to its daily application. This study also aimed to administer the PCIUQ to caregivers of pediatric CI users to determine its association with pediatric CI wear time. We hypothesized that recipients whose caregivers reported a greater number of barriers to daily CI use would show lower daily CI use.

STUDY

DESIGN

Questionnaire development study consisting of 2 parts. Part 1: Pragmatic item development. Part 2: Survey data collection.

SETTING

Two large CI programs in academic medical centers and one large CI program in an outpatient facility.

PATIENTS: Survey respondents were 89 caregivers of pediatric CI recipients under the age of 18 years old.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Questionnaire responses and amount of CI use per day as measured from the CI software (data logging).

RESULTS

The PCIUQ items were created based on input from 9 CI clinicians and ten parents of children with CIs. The PCIUQ yielded an average overall score of 18.4 (range, 2-52) out of 100. Responses showed variability in the number and type of barriers to CI use. The 2 most reported barriers were processor retention issues and the perceived need to take the CI processor off to protect it from loss or damage. Overall, the PCIUQ showed a strong, significant correlation (r s = -0.51, P <0.001) between the total score and the recipients' data logging collected from the CI software.

CONCLUSIONS

The PCIUQ is a counseling tool that can help clinicians identify unapparent barriers to full-time pediatric CI use. The PCIUQ showed an expected association with pediatric CI wear time.