Objectives:Thisstudyexaminedthequalityoflife(QoL)oftheparentsandsiblingsofhearing-impairedchildrenwithcochlearimplants(CIs).Design:Thisisacross-sectional,questionnaire-basedstudy.Thequestionnaireconsistsofthreesub-domains-interaction,emotionalwell-beingandsupportforthehearing-impairedchildandtheoverallQoL-andtwoopen-endedquestionsforparticipantstoprovidecommentsandsuggestionstoenhancetheirfamily'sQoL.Atotalof63questionnairesweree-mailedormailedtofamilieswhomettheinclusioncriteria.Setting:ThestudywasconductedundertheCenterforRehabilitation&SpecialNeeds,FacultyofHealthSciences,UniversitiKebangsaanMalaysia,KualaLumpur.Participants:Atotalof79parentsand23siblingsfrom44familiesofchildrenwithCIparticipatedinthisstudy.Mainoutcomemeasures:Themeanscoreforeachofthesub-domainandtheoverallQoLforbothsubjectgroupswerecomputed.Theanswersfortheopen-endedquestionswerelistedandorganizedintothemes.Results:ThereweresignificantcorrelationsbetweentheoverallQoLscoreandeachofthetestdomainsfortheparents'group(p<0.01).Forthesiblings'group,onlytheinteractionandsupportdomainsweresignificant.Interactionwasthemainsub-domainaffectingtheparents'QoLbutforsiblings,thiscouldnotbedetermined.Atotalof60%ofthepooledcommentswereclassifiedas‘concerns’.Asforthesuggestions,38.7%requestedsomeformofsupport,mainlyfinancial(41.7%).Conclusions:FamilieswithhearingimpairedchildrenwithCIhavenumerousconcernsthatneedtobeaddressed,eventhough,onaverage,theyweresatisfiedwiththeiroverallQoL.
