Determination The Needs Of The Parents Having Children With Cochlear Implants During Transition To Pre-School Institutions

Abstract

Objective: Exploring the needs of the parents of children with cochlear implants during transition to pre-school institutions. The effects of variables such as the gender, chronological age of the child, duration of the using hearing aid before implantation, age of the implantation, duration of the using of cochlear implant, age at which child began attending rehabilitation center, age and educational state of the parents, socioeconomic level of the family, participation of the parents to the educational program, present of hearing impairment individuals in family are also considered. Materials and Methods: 130 parents who have children with cochlear implant with ages ranging from 3 to 6 participated in this study. "The Scale Parental Information Needs in Transition to Kindergarten" was used to determine the parents' needs. Results: It was found out that the families need all of the information related to transition to pre-school institutions. Except the educational state of the mother, the socioeconomic level of the family, the gender of the child and the participation of the child's father to the educational program, it was found out that the other demographic factors do not lead to any significant differences in the needs (p<0.05). Conclusion: These findings could be explained by the fact of inefficiency of parents' education in regard to solution of parent's needs. Preparing the children and families together and researching of the effectiveness of the services for resolving the needs of them during transition are equally important.