Parent Perspectives of Ear Health and the Relationship with Children’s Speech and Language in the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children

Abstract

Health and well-being are holistic concepts that are perceived to be inseparable for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We examined relationships between parent-reported ear symptoms for 787 Indigenous children at two time points (age 2–3 years, age 4–5 years) and two parent-reported speech and language outcomes one year later (age 5–6 years). Most parents (80.2%) reported no concern about their child’s expressive language and (93.8%) receptive language. Binary logistic regression models examined ear health as a predictor of children’s expressive and receptive speech and language adjusting for sociodemographic and health covariates. For children without parent-reported ear symptoms, there were lower odds of parental concern about expressive speech and language (aOR = 0.45; 95% CI 0.21–0.99) and receptive language (aOR = 0.24; 95% CI 0.09–0.62). Parents were less likely to have concerns about the child’s expressive speech and language if their child was female, lived in urban or regional areas, had excellent or very good global health, or had no disability when aged 2–5 years. Since parent-reported ear health and speech and language concerns were related, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children could benefit from culturally safe, strength-based, and family-centered integrated speech, language, and ear health services.

Examining relationships between parent‐reported factors and recurring ear symptoms among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children

“…If parents asked, other descriptors for the term “runny ears” were provided for clarification by the Indigenous RAOs including “Glue ear”; “Tropical ear”; “Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media”; “Ear infections”; “Middle ear infection”; “Fluid in ears”; and “may have needed grommets” 8,21 . Children whose parent responded “Yes” to any option for this question in both Waves 2 and 3 were classified as having recurring ear health symptoms 22 …”

“…8,21 Children whose parent responded "Yes" to any option for this question in both Waves 2 and 3 were classified as having recurring ear health symptoms. 22 Sociodemographic, child health, and health service variables were selected based on their previous associations or relationships with ear health as demonstrated in the literature, [12][13][14][15] drawn from Wave 1. The sociodemographic predictor variables in the study were age (0-1; 2-3; 4-5 years), sex (Male; Female), Parent 1 is partnered (Yes; No), main source of income-wages or salary, 6 (Yes; No), main source of income-government pension or allowance, 6 (Yes; No), socioeconomic status as measured by the 2006 Decile of Relative Indigenous Socioeconomic Outcomes (IRISEO) measure.…”