Family Involvement in Adult Hearing Evaluation Appointments: Patient Perspectives

Abstract

Background Many adults suffer from an array of consequences due to their hearing loss (e.g., self-efficacy, mastery, psychosocial challenges). Family involvement can help improve their outcomes. Purpose This study aimed to determine audiology adult patients hearing experiences and inquired about their perspectives on family involvement in appointments. Research Design A cross-sectional survey was completed. Descriptive statistics, item analyses, and quantitative analyses were used to examine patient's characteristics and perspectives. Study Sample Three hundred eighty-two adult audiology patients participated in the study. Data Collection and Analysis A 15-item survey was created with 4 sections, including patient demographic information, general hearing questions, hearing experiences, and family interactions and involvement. Descriptive statistics were used to examine patient's characteristics and perspectives on family involvement in audiology appointments. Chronbach's alpha was used to reveal good internal consistency of difficult feelings related to hearing and perceived negative family member reactions. Quantitative analyses were used to determine patient perspectives on family involvement. Results Though patients reported difficulties due to their hearing loss, more than half reported that they did not want family involvement or they were unsure of the benefit that the involvement would provide. Patients who were interested in having family involved reported benefits such as educational opportunities and support. Few barriers of family involvement were reported by patients. Conclusions Patients had a mixed desire about family involvement in their adult audiology appointments. Education of patients about the benefits of family involvement may need to happen for this shift in audiologic practice.

Hearing Aid Adoption is Associated with the Type of Significant Other in Attendance at Hearing Care Appointments

“…Furthermore, it may be helpful to develop a metric for the quality of the triadic patient-SO-clinician interaction to better understand and account for not only the presence of an SO at an appointment, but also perspectives about their presence from the triad (e.g., roles, contributions, etc. ; Reynolds et al, 2019).…”

“…Not only are patients more likely to adopt hearing aids if they attend appointments with a SO (Singh & Launer, 2016), they also report greater hearing aid satisfaction when they also report greater availability of social support (Singh et al, 2015). Such evidence is notable because many patients do not intrinsically demonstrate autonomous motivation (Ridgway et al, 2015), or the combination of a self-perception of hearing loss and motivation for behavior change (Jorgensen & Novak, 2020; Palmer et al, 2009) – factors which are known predictors of hearing aid adoption. For these patients, it is plausible that family-centered approaches to audiological care that include SO involvement may improve patient self-perceptions regarding the impacts of hearing loss, and increase motivation for behavior changes that could lead to increased likelihood of hearing aid adoption.…”