Objective: The research question was: what coping strategies are used by the postlingually deafened adult cochlear implant (CI) users, in comparison to the hearing population, taking into account their gender and CI experience.
Material and methods: In the assessment of the coping strategies we used the C.S. Carver's Brief COPE questionnaire in Polish adaptation. The questionnaire and information form have been sent to the adult patients implanted in the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing in the years 2005 and 2009. The response ratio was 59.5% (n = 78). The control group (n = 77) comprised hearing persons selected at random, allowing for age.
Results: The stress coping strategies are different in the postlingually deafened adults and hearing ones. The postlingually deaf more seldom use the effective strategies, such as the active coping, planning and humour, and more often the denial. Also, they significantly more seldom turn to the self-blame and the substance use. People with longer CI experience significantly more often use the denial, more seldom they adopt the substance use and the self-distraction compared with those with shorter CI experience. Female postlingually deafened CI users are significantly less active in coping with stress and more seldom turn to the substance use, but more often, compared with the hearing women in the same age-group, use the denial. Male postlingually deafened CI users differ significantly from the hearing men only in more seldom turning to the self-blame and the substance use.
Conclusions: Postlingually deafened CI patients more often use the ineffective coping strategies. This tendency becomes stronger with the time lapse from the cochlear implantation and is more frequent in women, which corresponds with the data on both the considerably worse mental health of the postlingually deafened people compared to the general population and the deterioration of the mental, social and physical functioning with the lapse of time from the implantation. The standing availability of the psychological support for these patients is essential, as well as the awareness of their problems.