(Re)habilitation and Counseling (C)
Yuan Chen, PhD
Assistant Professor
The Education University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong/Taipo, United Kingdom
Disclosure(s): No financial or nonfinancial relationships to disclose.
Xiaoli Shen
Disclosure(s): No financial or nonfinancial relationships to disclose.
We've developed a Chinese version of the Family Stress Scale for parents of hearing-impaired children. This context-specific measure is more sensitive to the stress experienced by parents of children with hearing impairment than general measures, such as the Parenting Stress Index. Top stressors include finance, discipline, education, medical care, safety, and communication. Notably, we found that speech intelligibility, oral language use, self-compassion of caregivers, and social support significantly impact family stress, explaining 46% of its variance in 257 children with hearing aids or cochlear implants. In addition, self-companion significantly moderates the relationship between family stress and children's oral language use.
Summary:
• Objectives/Rationale
This study aims to create a Chinese version of the Family Stress Scale (CFSS) for children with hearing impairment (HI). The secondary objective is to investigate whether and how hope, self-compassion, and social support influence family stress related to children’s hearing impairment.
• Methods
Initially, we translated the English version of the Family Stress Scale using recently established good practice guidelines. The psychometric properties of the CFSS were then examined in a sample of 257 children with hearing aids or cochlear implants. In addition, hierarchical multiple regression was used to investigate the effects of device-related factors (device type, age at device fitting, duration of device use), child’s hearing and communication factors (hearing skills, speech intelligibility, and oral language use), caregiver-related factors (age, education level. hope and self-compassion), and social factors (family and community support) on family stress in children with HI. Furthermore, the SPSS PROCESS macro was used to determine whether hope, self-compassion, and social support could moderate the relationship between a child’s communication skills (e.g., hearing skills, speech intelligibility and oral language use) and family stress.
• Results
The CFSS exhibited good validity and reliability. The CFSS, as a context-specific measure, is more sensitive to the stressors experienced by parents of children with hearing impairment than general measures, such as the Parenting Stress Index. Top stressors included finance, discipline, education, medical care, and safety. Notably, a child's speech intelligibility, oral language use, caregiver self-compassion, and social support significantly influence family stress, explaining 46% of its variance in family stress. Self-compassion alone accounted for 24% of the variance. The moderation analysis revealed that self-compassion moderates the relationship between a child’s oral language use and family stress.
• Conclusion
The CFSS can accurately capture the stress experienced by families of children with HI. Implementing strategies, measures, and practices to reduce stress from finance, discipline, education, medical care, and safety can alleviate family stress related to a child’s HI. Furthermore, enhancing self-compassion can mitigate family stress arising from a child’s oral language use. Therefore, interventions to improve self-compassion may develop to reduce family stress.