CIQOL Instruments

The Cochlear Implant Quality of Life (CIQOL) suite of instruments were developed to provide a comprehensive assessment of functional outcomes in the adults with cochlear implants. Using stringent psychometric methods, including factor analysis and item response theory, and following the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) and Consensus-based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) methodology, we created the CIQOL item banks, CIQOL-35 Profile instrument, CIQOL-10 Global measure, and the CIQOL-Expectations instrument.

The CIQOL item bank consists of 81 psychometrically sound items in 6 domains: communication, emotional, entertainment, environment, listening effort and social. The use of the full CIQOL item banks provides the most information across the 6 domains. However, the large number of items reduces the feasibility of this instrument for routine clinical or research use. Therefore, the CIQOL-35 Profile (35 items) and the CIQOL-10 Global (10 items) instruments were created from the full CIQOL item bank and maintain its sound psychometric properties.

The CIQOL-35 Profile measures outcomes for each of the 6 CIQOL domains. The CIQOL-10 Global provides a global evaluation of CI user QOL, but no domain-specific data. All CIQOL-10 Global items are included in the CIQOL-35 profile, so a global QOL score can be determined from responses to the CIQOL-35 profile instrument.

Based on the CIQOL conceptual framework, we have also created and validated the CIQOL-Expectations instrument. The CIQOL-Expectations instrument provides the opportunity to measure potential CI users’ expectations regarding cochlear implant outcomes across the same 6 domains and global score as above.

Using CIQOL Instruments

To access the CIQOL instruments, please use the below link: