Counseling Competencies in Audiology: A Modified Delphi Study

Abstract

Purpose Counseling practices in audiology play a critical role in helping patients and families understand, accept, and adjust to the dynamic impacts ear-related disorders have on their lives. The purpose of this study was to identify what competencies (i.e., knowledge, skills, and attitudes) are important for audiologists to possess to provide effective counseling in practice. Method A modified Delphi study design was used to survey a panel of 33 professionals with expertise in audiologic counseling from 5 different countries. In the 1st survey round, experts were asked to respond to 3 open-ended prompts. Responses were condensed and revised into items experts were asked to rate during the 2nd and 3rd survey rounds, on a 6-point Likert scale of importance. Results A total of 819 items were generated from the open-ended prompts. A total of 72 items were included in the 2nd and 3rd rounds of survey instruments. Consensus was met on 64 audiologic counseling competency items. Conclusions The competency items identified in this study reflect important knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are important to audiologic counseling. Items that met consensus in this study can inform competencies audiology students can acquire during graduate training. Practice guidelines in the field currently lack the necessary clarity and detail needed for implementation of counseling competencies in clinical education. Future research is needed to explore factors important for implementation of evidence-based counseling training in graduate audiology programs.

Knowledge, Beliefs, and Practices of Australian Audiologists in Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Adults With Hearing Loss

“…Although more than 80% of audiologists in the current study indicated that they had received some training in the delivery of emotional support, the two most common barriers to providing emotional support during audiology consultations were feeling under skilled and worry that I may get 'out of my depth', suggesting a need for further training and skill development. A recent international Delphi study identified 64 competency items ( 16knowledge-based, 35 skill-based, and 13 attitudinal items) deemed important for audiologists to possess to provide effective audiologic counselling (Meibos, 2019). Meibos (2019) further demonstrated that audiology training programs do not encompass adequate training on the majority of these items, suggesting that practicing clinical audiologists are under-skilled in many of these areas.…”

“…A recent international Delphi study identified 64 competency items ( 16knowledge-based, 35 skill-based, and 13 attitudinal items) deemed important for audiologists to possess to provide effective audiologic counselling (Meibos, 2019). Meibos (2019) further demonstrated that audiology training programs do not encompass adequate training on the majority of these items, suggesting that practicing clinical audiologists are under-skilled in many of these areas.…”

“…Audiologists providing services to adults with hearing loss are frequently put into the role of counsellor as clients frequently raise emotional concerns associated with hearing loss and audiological rehabilitation (English, Naeve-Velguth, Rall, Uyehara-Isono, & Pittman, 2007;Meibos, 2019;Meibos, Munoz, Schultz, Price, Whicker, Caballero, & Graham, 2017).…”

Audiologists’ presbycusis and associated tinnitus counselling practices within the KwaZulu-Natal province

“…Audiologists play an integral role during the counselling process, which highlights the importance of ensuring that audiologists are well equipped with the appropriate training in audiological rehabilitation (Meibos, Muñoz, & Twohig, 2019 ). Presently, there are five tertiary institutions within South Africa offering the degree at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.…”

Theory and practice: from Delphi-study to pedagogical training

“…Delphi-studies using a modified version of the method have a great potential, as they are very common in the literature, independent of the research area or focus of the paper (e.g. Meibos et al , 2019; Parratt et al , 2016; Slade et al , 2016; Toma et al , 2019). The Delphi technique in oral form, as an example of the modified method, can be applied to different types of groups, such as electronic groups or people meeting in a face-to-face interaction (Witkin and Altschuld, 1995).…”