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Active Research
Hearing Rehabilitation from the Perspective of the Significant Other
Principal Investigator: M. Samantha Lewis, PhD
Objectives. The presence of a hearing impairment can negatively
impact the significant other (SO), as well as the individual with
hearing loss. Although hearing aids improve communicative performance,
they do not entirely remedy hearing dysfunction. Factors such as patient
pre-use expectations have been shown to impact post-use satisfaction. It
is thus logical to assume then that the SO's pre-use expectations and
perhaps also post-use satisfaction may impact hearing aid outcome. At
this time, however, these factors have yet to be examined. The purpose
of this investigation is to put in place the tools for examining the
pre-use expectations of, and the post-use satisfaction with, hearing
aids from the SO's perspective by developing assessment questionnaires.
To accomplish this task, two routinely used and standardized
questionnaires, the Expected Consequences of Hearing aid Ownership
(ECHO) and the Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Living (SADL)
will be used as a starting point and adapted accordingly. Pilot
questionnaires will be developed based upon these questionnaires and
from information obtained during interviews with non hearing-impaired
SOs of individuals with mild to moderately-severe sensorineural hearing
loss. Analyses of factor structure and reliability will be assessed for
each questionnaire. These questionnaires will allow hearing
professionals to assess the impact that hearing aids have on the
individual with hearing loss, as well as his/her SO. With this
information, they will be better able to tailor their counseling to the
needs of the family unit and better understand the relationship between
the perceptions of the SO and user outcome.
Research Plan.
Two questionnaires will be developed for clinical use with the SO. The
first questionnaire will query the SO regarding his/her pre-use
expectations about hearing aid outcome. The second questionnaire will
query the post-use satisfaction experienced by the SO with
amplification. The questionnaires will be developed modeling the format
of the ECHO and the SADL and adapted to the SO's perspective. Additional
questions will be developed and current questions modified using data
collected during interviews with non hearing-impaired SOs of individuals
with hearing impairment and their hearing-impaired partners. Data
obtained from these interviews will be coded into common themes and used
for questionnaire development. The psychometric properties of these
questionnaires will be evaluated.
Methods. In order
to create two questionnaires for clinical use with the SO, this project
will be completed in two phases. In the first phase, spousal pairs in
which the individual with hearing impairment is considering getting
hearing aids will be interviewed in order to develop pilot
questionnaires. Once these questionnaires are developed, non-impaired
SOs will complete both sets of questionnaires. The pre-use expectation
questionnaire will be completed prior to the partner with hearing
impairment receiving a hearing aid and the post-use questionnaire will
be completed six weeks after the hearing aid is fit. Analyses of the
psychometric properties of these questionnaires will be conducted using
factor analysis. The test-retest reliability of the questionnaires will
be assessed.
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