Socio-economic classification and quality of life of family members of children and teenagers with hearing disability

ABSTRACT: Purpose: to investigate the relation between socio-economic classification and the perception of quality of life of people who have a relative with hearing loss. Methods: It is a quantitative and descriptive exploratory research developted with relatives of hearing impaired children and teenagers, user of Sistema Único de Saúde. The researchers applied the Brazilian Criteria of Economic Classification - BCEC (In Portuguese: Critério de Classificação Econômica Brasil - CCEB), and Quality of Life questionnaire of WHOQOL-BREF. All data were tabulated and statistically analyzed by using the descriptive statistics and graphical analysis of the variables. Results: twenty family members of patients with hearing disability took part in the research. The descriptive analysis of the answers of the Brazilian Criteria of Economic Classification - BCEC (In Portuguese: Critério de Classificação Econômica Brasil - CCEB) showed that most of the participants belong to B2 and C1 classes, which correspond to 35% each. A reduced part of the sample is in the C2 class, which correspond to 10% and 20% is inserted in the B1 class. It was perceived the best quality of life in the social domain (69.1) and the worst quality of life in the environmental domain (55.1). Conclusion: the study showed that there was a relation between socioeconomic classification of the families and the perception of the quality of life, because the lower the socioeconomic classification is, the worse the perception of the quality of life was in all areas except for the environmental field.