Quality of life, psycholinguistic abilities and emotional problems in children and adolescents with hearing difficulties

INTRODUCTION. The challenges of the Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), the communicative competence and the mental health of children and adolescents with hearing impairments weaken inclusive education in schools. This study examines three psycho-educational objectives: a) firstly, it compares HRQoL self-reports of children and adolescents with hearing loss wearing cochlear implants (CIs) or hearing aids (HAs) and their families' reports, b) secondly, it contrasts the language abilities of children and adolescents with CIs or HAs, and c) thirdly, it examines emotional problems perceived by children and adolescents with CIs or HAs and those identified by their families and teachers. METHOD. Three hundred students with ages ranging between 6-16 with hearing impairments participated in the study: children and adolescents with CIs (n=187), and HAs (n=113), their families (mothers, n=242, and fathers, n=37) and the teachers of the schools (tutors, n=185, and hearing and language specialists, n=193) of the Canary Islands (Spain). Three instruments were used: Quality of Life Questionnaire (KINDLR), Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA), and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The multivariate variance analysis was used for the three objectives. In addition, Cohen's kappa coefficient was used in the first objective (a). RESULTS. An agreement on the HRQoL of children and adolescents with CIs or HAs and their families in the School dimension was found. Students with CIs had higher scores in the SDQ than students with HAs, except in the subscales Emotional Symptoms and Prosocial. All groups rated Behaviour Problems as the most difficult issue. DISCUSSION. Children and adolescents with CIs or HAs can respond to questions related to their HRQoL, but their self-report answers are significantly different. Students with HAs obtain better results in auditory memory and grammatical integration in the ITPA. The hearing and language specialists and tutors agree on their perceptions regarding the problems CIs or HAs students have with their peers.