16 (2): [413][414][415][416][417][418][419][420][421] aids and auditory rehabilitation. Pediatric hearing healthcare programs have emphasized the importance of a family centered approach, since family's participation on the early diagnosis and intervention brings better results to children 1 .In general, after a child is diagnosed with hearing impairment, the family goes through a difficult period, having to deal with strong feelings of inadequacy, anger, guilt, vulnerability and confusion 2 . Besides, the need of restructuring their roles and learning new values and skills to deal with a hearing impairment may also be a potential source of stress for the family. Parents of hearing impaired children were more stressed than those of normal hearing children and such stress occurred due to different reasons in different stages of their children's lives 3 . In two different occasions, seven to ten days apart, participants completed the PSI-SF in the formats: paper-pencil/paper-pencil (PP), paper-pencil/electronic (PE), electronic/electronic (EE) and electronic/ paper-pencil (PE). The PSI-SF has 36 statements, divided into three subscales: Parental Distress, Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction, and Difficult Child. Pearson's correlations and comparison of the PSI-SF scores within and between groups were obtained. Results: strong positive correlations were found between PSI-SF subscales and total scores in the first and second administration, for all groups. Significant differences were observed between the mean scores for the PP group (subscale "Difficult Child") and EE group (subscale "Difficult Child" and the total score). Such differences in scores, however, did not alter in any means the interpretation of the results. Participants' stress fell into normal values, for all subscales. Conclusion: the electronic format of the PSI-SF questionnaire yields similar results to the standard paper-and-pencil administration of the test. Observed stress levels were considered normal.
COMPARISON OF ELECTRONIC AND PAPER AND PENCIL
ADMINISTRATION OF THE PARENTING STRESS
INDEX -SHORT FORM (PSI-SF)