Objective: The purpose of this study is to compare the levels of depressive emotioning of adolescents with cochlear implants and the ones who have normal hearing.
Methods: For this purpose, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale is applied upon the study group which consists of 30 adolescents with cochlear implant between the ages of 12-19 and upon the control group which consists of 60 adolescents having the similar characteristics. The scale is used to evaluate the level of depressive emotioning of adolescents with cochlear implant and with normal hearing.
Results: At the end of the application, the scores of these two groups which they got according to their answers were compared statistically. When the results were examined, there seemed to be no significant difference statistically between the depressive emotioning values of the cochlear implant group and the control group. Apart from this, in this study, we examined changes in the level of depressive emotioning according to different variables. As a result, it was found out that in both groups level of depressive emotioning was lower for adolescents who had had preschool education, had brothers/sisters, high level of income, whose father and mother had higher levels of education. On the other hand, the birth sequence and the child's father's profession did not seem to have any effect on the child's level of depressive emotioning.
Conclusions: As a result of these findings, it was thought that cochlear implantation had a positive effect on life quality and it was suggested that the adolescents and their families should get assistance from experts about the characteristics and principles of approaching the child in this period. The adolescent should be directed towards social activities and courses, their positive sides should be supported and further studies should be carried out with different case groups on this matter. In addition to, examining the interactions of hearing loss effects can help professionals determine the individuals who are at a higher risk for developing mental distress.