Journal of Clinical Physiotherapy Research

Abstract

Introduction: Hearing loss is a common disorder in children. Out of every thousand children born, 2 to 3 of them are born with moderate to severe hearing loss for various reasons. This problem, regardless of culture and communities, increases the challenge and hardship in families. Over time, hearing loss leads to anxiety, depression, isolation and loneliness in these individuals and their families. If left untreated, hearing loss can become a psychological complication in in these individuals and their families. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Trans cranial Direct Current Stimulation on working memory and depression in mothers of Children with deafness. Materials and Methods: In this quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test, 40 mothers of Children with deafness in Yazd city were selected randomly. 20 mothers were in experimental and 20 mothers were in the control group. Beck Depression Inventory (1988) and working memory scores were compared by n-back test before and after treatment. In the control group, each patient received 10 sessions of dummy electrical stimulation (20 minutes) and in the experimental group received 10 sessions of simultaneous anodic and cathode stimulation (2 mA-20 minutes) in the left and right dorsal peripheral cortex, respectively. Data analysis was performed using analysis of covariance. Results: Data analysis showed that the scores of depression and working memory tests in mothers of children with deafness showed significantly improvement (P=0.01) compared with the control group with dummy electrical stimulation, respectively. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, it seems that direct electrical stimulation in the Dorsal Lateral Prefrontal Cortex increases the ability of working memory and improves depression in mothers of children with deafness and can be used in the rehabilitation program of these patients.