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National guidelines on the provision of assistive technology in Papua New Guinea. Zero draft – April 2016

BRENTHALL, Lee
et al
April 2016

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The purpose of these National Guidelines for the Provision of Assistive Technologies (AT) in PNG is to provide a framework for a national standard of care in appropriate AT provision, for women, men, girls and boys with mobility, hearing and vision impairments, regardless of their age, location, ethnicity, and socio-economic background. It is hoped that these Guidelines will help ensure that users receive appropriate and affordable AT that suit their needs, daily activities and lifestyles, while satisfying minimum requirements for safety, strength and durability, and that service providers are trained in all steps of the service provision cycle.

The Development of a New Quality of Life Questionnaire for Children with Hearing Loss - The Impact of Hearing Loss on Children (IHL-C): Field Testing and Psychometric Evaluation

Raj, Lavanya J
Pitchai, Swarnakumari
2015

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Purpose: To report the development of user-defined, multidimensional, psychometrically sound Quality of Life questionnaires – Impact of Hearing Loss on Children – IHL-C 69 and Brief IHL-C for children with hearing loss, in two languages -Tamil and English.

 

Methods: 421 problem statements from previous qualitative studies were reduced to a 220-item questionnaire with 7 domains (educational implications, social integration, psycho-social well-being, speech, language and communication, family relationships, leisure time activities and general functioning). After field testing, the domain of leisure time activities was dropped, resulting in a 103-item self-administered questionnaire with 6 domains. This 103-item questionnaire was translated from Tamil to English, and self-administered by children with hearing loss (11-18 years of age) in Special schools (n=100) and Integrated schools (n=100), as well as by normal controls in Integrated schools (n=200). Standard methods were used for item reduction and to evaluate psychometric properties.

 

Results: Psychometric item reduction produced the 69-item IHL-C69 (long version) and 48- item Brief IHL-C (brief version) questionnaires. Psychometric evaluation showed that all the domains of both the questionnaires had good acceptability, high internal consistency (alpha >0.80; intrinsic validity >0.80) and test-retest reliability (0.86).The questionnaires significantly distinguished between the children with hearing loss and the normal controls. The domains of both the questionnaires showed moderate evidence of convergent validity, and discriminant validity derived through hypotheses testing showed mixed results. The translation validity was also determined.

 

Conclusion: The IHL-C 69 and Brief IHL-C are reliable and valid user-defined, multidimensional questionnaires, available for the first time in both Tamil and English languagesin Tamil Nadu, India. Designed to analyse the impact of hearing loss and to determine the quality of life of children with hearing loss, the questionnaires could be used to prioritise the goals for rehabilitation intervention for these children.

Developing the Content of a New Quality of Life Questionnaire for Children with Hearing Loss

RAJ, L J
SWARNAKUMARI, P
MARTINA, T
2014

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Habilitation and rehabilitation call for a paradigm shift from the traditional intervention programmes which focus on physical functioning to programmes that include aspects of physical, psychological and social wellbeing.

 

Purpose: To develop a quality of life instrument, using focus group discussions to assess the outcomes of interventions for school-going children with hearing loss.

 

Methods: Separate focus group discussions were held with children with hearing loss between 8 and 18 years of age, special educators and mothers. Focus group discussions were conducted separately for boys and girls. Each focus group had 8–10 participants. In-depth interviews were conducted with the heads of institutions and rehabilitation professionals. Fathers had to complete self-administered questionnaires. The focus group discussions were guided by topics and probes drawn from literature reviews, and were audio recorded, transcribed and analysed.

 

Results: Around 421 problem statements were classified under 7 themes: Educational implications; Social integration; Psycho-social wellbeing; Family relationships; Speech, language and communication; Leisure and recreation; and General functioning. Education and career aspirations were considered to be most important. The problem statements revealed that the primary focus of training was on improving academics. Integration and feeling comfortable with social situations were cited as limitations; as also, the preference for friendship with people of similar abilities. For the majority of children, leisure and recreation was limited to watching television. Parents and siblings were considered vital to their progress and achievements.

 

Conclusions: Multidimensional and varied perspectives of different stakeholders, especially family members, are necessary for a comprehensive analysis of the impact of hearing loss on the quality of life of school-going children.

 

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