Development and application of a health‐related quality‐of‐life instrument for adults with cochlear implants: The Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire

TLDR

The study aimed to create a self‑assessment, quantifiable health‑related quality‑of‑life instrument for cochlear implant users. The instrument was built around three domains—physical, psychological, and social—and evaluated with 45 postlingually deaf adult CI users and 46 deaf candidates awaiting implantation. The Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire demonstrated reliable, valid, and sensitive psychometric properties, with CI users showing higher scores across all subdomains and the tool effectively detecting clinically meaningful changes and the positive impact of cochlear implantation on social and psychological quality of life.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The goal was to develop a quantifiable, self‐assessment health‐related quality of life (QoL) instrument for use in cochlear implant (CI) users. DESIGN: Three principal domains were distinguished: physical, psychological, and social. Forty‐five postlingually deaf adult multichannel CI users and 46 deaf candidates on the waiting list for CIs (control group) participated in the study. RESULTS: Retrospective scores for the CI group corresponded very well with the scores for the control group. Current QoL scores were substantially higher for all 6 subdomains. Internal consistency and test‐retest reliability coefficients proved to be satisfactory, and the ability to detect clinical changes with the Nijmegen Cochlear Implantation Questionnaire (NCIQ) proved to be good. CONCLUSIONS: The psychometric characteristics of the NCIQ proved to be reliable and probably valid and sensitive to clinical changes. The data obtained with the NCIQ reflected that the instrument was able to detect that a CI had significant effects on several health‐related QoL aspects, including the social and psychological domains.