Adaptation of mothers of hearing-impaired children to cochlear implantation: A qualitative study for identification of effective factors

Background and aims: Studies have indicated a considerable change in the trend of families’ adaptation to the hearing impairment of their children following the application of hearing screening programs in the past few years. This study was conducted in line with increased rehabilitation service quality and family-based intervention. It was performed to identify factors affecting the adaptation of mothers to hearing-impaired (HI) children with cochlear implants. Methods: This qualitative-descriptive research was performed with a phenomenological approach and involved 16 mothers of two to seven-year-old HI children with cochlear implants. The research setting was the centers for speech therapy of HI children in Shiraz, Iran. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with the subjects, and data analysis was performed in MAXQDA (2018) using Colaizzi’s seven-step method. Results: The mean age of the subjects was 34 years, and the children of these parents were two to seven years old. The mean age of the earliest known diagnosis was 12 months. Moreover, the mean age at cochlear implantation was 2.5 years. Based on the subjects’ experiences, the researchers extracted factors affecting mothers’ adaptation, leading to four main themes. These factors facilitated mothers’ adaptation and included the quality of medical services, condition normalization, individual capabilities of mothers, and effective use of the environment. Conclusion: Improving the quality of medical services, condition normalization, individual capabilities of mothers, and effective use of the environment led to an improvement in mothers’ adaptation to HI children with cochlear implants.