Item Generation for a Music-related Quality of Life Questionnaire for Adult Cochlear Implant Users

Introduction: Existing music questionnaires designed for adult cochlear implant (CI) users are limited in their ability to measure real-world benefits of auditory music training and new technologies. Aims: To investigate aspects of CI users’ relationship with music that are relevant to quality of life (QoL) domains, with a view to generating items for a new questionnaire. Methods: Thirty adult CI users participated in 1 of 6 focus groups about music in everyday life. The group discussion data were analyzed based on the theory of template analysis. The QoL domains of the Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire were used as broad a priori categories to help with organizing associated themes. Participants also evaluated items of existing questionnaires. Results: The themes identified in the discussion were organized into three main domains (music listening ability, attitude towards music, musical activity), which constitute the music-related quality of life (MuRQoL) of CI users. Fifty-three items were developed for a prototype questionnaire using a combination of these themes and items from existing questionnaires highly rated by participants. Conclusion: The study highlights musical abilities, attitudes and activities of adult CI users poorly addressed or not addressed at all by previous questionnaires. By covering novel aspects of music experience, the MuRQoL questionnaire has the potential to be a more suitable measure of music-specific CI outcomes than previous questionnaires, which may open up new avenues for the assessment and provision of music rehabilitation in clinical settings. The MuRQoL questionnaire was optimized and validated in another study before becoming available for use