Evaluation of Parental Perspectives and Concerns about Pediatric Cochlear Implantation: A Social Media Analysis

ObjectiveParents often experience uncertainty during decision-making for their child's cochlear implantation (CI) surgery, and online forums provide insight on parental opinions that might not be expressed in clinic. This study aims to evaluate parental perspectives and concerns about pediatric CI using social media analysis.Study DesignQualitative study.SettingThree online forums involving parental posts about pediatric CI.Intervention/MethodsForums were queried using keywords (e.g., "cochlear implant") to gather all U.S. parent-initiated posts about pediatric CI from 2006 to 2021. Thematic content analysis was performed to classify posts by overarching domain, themes, and subthemes. Posts were reviewed for thematic synthesis and double coded. Descriptive statistics were calculated for each theme by unique users.ResultsA total of 79 posts by 41 unique users were analyzed. Themes relating to decision for CI included facilitators, inhibitors, resources, and feelings. Parents posted about lack of benefit from hearing aids promoting decision for CI and high cost as an inhibitor. Some expressed concern about making a major decision for a minor. Parents often mentioned their child's healthcare providers and social media as resources.ConclusionThrough social media posts, parental priorities and concerns for decision-making of CI surgery were identified. Findings may guide discussions between physicians and parents and facilitate shared decision-making about CI.