Relationship between parental stress and attitude towards cochlear implantation outcomes in children in an Indian context.
Saloni Piplani, Mohan Kumar Kalaiah, Usha Shastri
PMID 35352791WHAT IT FOUND
Parents of children with cochlear implants reported high stress.
Contrary to expectations, higher stress correlated with more positive parental attitudes toward the child's communication and social skills, rather than worse outcomes.
Key findings
01The mean stress level among parents was 69.1 (SD=10.8), with no significant difference between mothers and fathers.
02A significant positive correlation was found between parental stress and attitudes towards communication abilities (r=0.353) and social skills (r=0.437).
03Longer duration of cochlear implant use was significantly correlated with more positive parental attitudes towards communication and education.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study did not measure the actual auditory or language skills of the children, relying solely on parental reports. The cross-sectional design cannot determine causality between stress and attitudes. The sample size was relatively small (57 parents). The positive correlation between stress and positive attitudes is unexpected and may be influenced by factors like high parental expectations or insecure attachment, which were not directly measured. Data was collected via an online survey distributed through social media, which may introduce selection bias.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the positive correlation between stress and attitudes as evidence that stress improves outcomes. The authors suggest this may reflect high parental expectations or anxiety rather than better child performance, and actual child skills were not measured.