Development of the Cochlear Implant Quality of Life Item Bank.
Theodore R McRackan, Brittany N Hand, Craig A Velozo and 1 others
PMID 30531259WHAT IT FOUND
Adult cochlear implant users' reports shaped an 81-item quality-of-life bank covering communication, emotional well-being, entertainment, environment, listening effort, and social life.
The independence questions were dropped. This is a source bank, not a finished clinic questionnaire.
Key findings
01An 81-item cochlear implant quality-of-life bank was created from responses from 371 adults with complete data.
02The independence domain was dropped because its items did not form one clear construct and 36.1% of people scored at the top.
03The final domains cover communication, emotional well-being, entertainment, environment, listening effort, and social life, not just word and sentence recognition.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Because data were collected online, adults older than 89 years were not enrolled. The sample was relatively well-educated and had high socioeconomic status, so it may not represent all adult cochlear implant users. The sample did not match the ethnic and racial demographics of the general public, and the paper says no data are available to compare it with the U.S. adult cochlear implant population. Speech recognition scores were unavailable for 36.4% of subjects, and testing conditions varied across institutions. 37 of the 408 returned questionnaires were excluded for missing item-pool responses. The analysis used 371 subjects. The work produced an item bank, not a final validated short-form, profile, or computerized adaptive questionnaire. The independence domain was removed, so the final bank does not include a clear set of independence items.
Declared interests
The supplied article lists research support from the NIH extramural program and non-U.S. government sources. It does not include an author conflict-of-interest declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the 81-item bank as a ready clinical outcome measure. It is a source item bank intended to build future short-form, profile, and adaptive CI quality-of-life instruments, and the independence domain was removed.