Erving Goffman's "Asylums" is a key text in the development of contemporary, community-orientated mental health practice. It has survived as a trenchant critique of the asylum as total institution, and its publication in 1961 in book form marked a further stage in the discrediting of the asylum model of mental health care. In this paper, some responses from a range of disciplines to this text, 50 years on, are presented. A consultant psychiatrist with a special interest in cultural psychiatry and mental health legislation, two collaborating psychotherapists in adult and forensic mental health, a philosopher, and a recent medical graduate, present their varying responses to the text. The editors present these with the hope of encouraging further dialogue and debate from service users, carers, clinicians, and academics and researchers across a range of disciplines.
MSK examination is not performed routinely during paediatric admissions in contrast to the examination of other symptoms regardless of the presenting complaint. This may need to be addressed by local audit and increased undergraduate teaching.
Aim
To compare listening and spoken language outcomes after cochlear implantation for children born preterm and at term, and to examine patterns associated with additional disabilities or gestational age.
Method
Children were included if they underwent cochlear implantation in 2013 or 2014 and had complete 5‐year follow‐up data available. An analysis of assessment data recorded annually was conducted, including outcomes as measured by the Category of Auditory Performance (CAP), the Speech Intelligibility Rating, Second Edition (SIR 2) scale, and the British Picture Vocabulary Scales, Third Edition (BPVS‐3). Analyses were conducted to measure the impact of preterm birth and of additional causes of disability on these outcomes.
Results
Eighty‐two children (39 males, 43 females; median corrected age at first cochlear implantation 28.5mo [interquartile range 16.3–48.5]) were included in the study. Children who underwent cochlear implantation experienced significant improvements as measured by the CAP, SIR 2, and BPVS‐3. Comparable improvements were seen in the groups born at term and preterm. Children with additional disabilities experienced significant improvement in all measures but performed less well than children without additional disabilities.
Interpretation
Infants born preterm benefit from cochlear implantation to a degree comparable to their peers born at term. Additional disabilities may limit improvements in speech intelligibility, listening performance, and receptive vocabulary. Children with additional disabilities, nonetheless, derived significant benefit from cochlear implantation; additional benefits of cochlear implantation for this subgroup may go unmeasured by the outcome tools used in this study.
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