The Ped-CISR: An Assessment to Evaluate Knowledge of Adults Managing CI Equipment of Pediatric Users

What is it about?

As children with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss are receiving cochlear implants (CI) at younger and younger ages, the role of managing the CI equipment falls to the caregivers and professionals in the children’s lives. Despite the growing population of pediatric CI users, there were no available assessment tools to evaluate the knowledge and skills of those managing the CI equipment on behalf of the children. In this study, the Cochlear Implant Skills Review (CISR), which was developed for adults with CI, was adapted to focus on child-specific topics/features of the CI equipment (called the Ped-CISR). The Ped-CISR was then administered to caregivers, educators, and speech-language providers to better understand the CI skills and knowledge of these groups and also to check how consistently professionals scoring the Ped-CISR, agree on their knowledge and skill levels.

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Photo by Tamara Govedarovic on Unsplash

Photo by Tamara Govedarovic on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The Ped-CISR was found to be a reliable tool for measuring the knowledge and skills of individuals caring for CI equipment for children. Additionally, it highlighted knowledge areas which may be important for audiologists to review with those who are managing CI equipment such as the indicator light patterns and the use of the batteries.

Perspectives