Examination of quality of life levels of individuals with total laryngectomy

Total laryngectomy (TL) is defined as an operation involving surgical removal of laryngeal structures and part of upper trachea. Oesophageal speech (OS), electrolarynx and tracheoesophageal speech (TS) are among options for voice restoration in TL. After TL surgery, it may take time for individuals with TL (IwTL) to adapt to their "new" voice. IwTL may experience problems in different areas including communication. Researchers use measurement tools to assess quality of life (QoL) levels of IwTL to examine the severity of these problems. In this study, two instruments (TR-SECEL and TR-UW-QOL), widely used in literature to examine QoL, were applied to 39 IwTL. The scores were compared according to demographic variables (age and education), medium of alerengeal communication (SC and TC) and time after surgery. Findings of TR-SECEL showed there was no significant difference between age and education groups, General subdomain score means were significantly higher in IwTL who used TS, scores did not differ between three groups in terms of time after surgery, there was positive and moderate relationship between age and General subdomain scores. Regarding TR-UW-QOL, mean scores of Mood item among IwTL aged 60 years and over were significantly higher than other group, and those of Anxiety item of IwTL with 9 years of education or more in the education group were significantly higher than other group, the mean scores of the Appearance and Shoulder items were higher in favour of IwTL who used TS and OS, respectively, and in terms of time after surgery, mean scores of IwTL with a duration of 121 months or more after TL in Appearance item were significantly higher than values of those in the range of 8-63 months. In conclusion, it does not seem possible to state any alaryngeal communication medium is more prioritised or advantageous than the other.