Mrs Pia Leeming1, Dr Amy Hannigan1, Dr Tamara Veselinovic1,2, Mrs Nicole Irvine1
1Perth Children’s Hospital, Nedlands, Australia, 2The Kids Research Institute, Nedlands, Australia
Biography:
Pia’s career began as a teacher of the deaf/early interventionist before she later qualified as an audiologist. She became internationally certified as a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS Cert. AVT®) and supported families with infants with hearing loss within various early-intervention programs. Additionally, Pia worked as an audiologist at Perth Children’s Hospital cochlear implant program and became curious about the parents’ journey to resolution around their child’s hearing loss. This interest led to Pia’s post-graduate qualification in counselling; now she’s privileged to support families through the WA NBHS program as they process unexpected news of their child’s hearing loss.
Abstract
Parents of infants diagnosed with hearing loss experience diverse emotional and practical responses to their child’s diagnosis. The Dual Process Model of Grief, which describes oscillation between loss-oriented and restoration-oriented coping, provides a useful framework for audiologists to support parents as they process their infants hearing loss diagnosis. For these parents, an early hearing loss diagnosis is an institution-led diagnosis that can trigger feelings of shock, grief, and a sense of disconnection, as they attempt to adapt to new expectations for their child. Since infants are highly attuned to their caregivers’ emotional states, a parent’s emotional response to the diagnosis can potentially disrupt early attachment, bonding, and their ability to respond sensitively to the infant’s needs.
At Perth Children’s Hospital, within 2 weeks of diagnosis, parents meet with an Ear Nose and Throat doctor to explore possible aetiology for the hearing loss diagnosis. Subsequently parents are offered the opportunity to explore the oscillation between loss and restoration via the Dual Process Model of Grief when meeting with an audiologist/counsellor soon after. Within this model parents are encouraged to identify the elements of their experience that have either contributed to loss or restoration. Through this process parents create a narrative that reflects their personal ongoing journey to resolution around their child’s hearing loss diagnosis. This narrative contributes to a parents’ understanding of their grief and supports parents to be less overcome by emotion and more present to their infant and the infant’s emotional needs.