A home education program for older adults with hearing impairment and their significant others: a randomized trial evaluating short- and long-term effects.
This paper addresses the development and effectiveness of a home education program. The program, designed for hearing-impaired elders and their significant others (SO), deals with communication strategies and speech reading. Participants were randomly assigned to a training group (hearing aid fitting+home education program) or a control group (hearing aid fitting). The training group included 24 hearing-impaired subjects and 24 SO's. Controls were 24 affected individuals and 22 SO's. Questionnaires addressing emotional response, communication strategies and the IOI-HA, IOI-AI and IOI-SO were used. A repeated measures analysis of variance was applied to test group differences between pre, post, and 6-months follow-up measures. Increased awareness of benefits of speech reading and improved interaction with the SO were observed in the training group only (p < 0.05). No group difference on 'emotional response' was found. IOI-AI and IOI-SO demonstrated favorable attitudes towards the program. Follow-up measures showed improved quality of life and satisfaction in the training group, while a decrease was observed among the controls (p < 0.05). Some effects differed between first-time and experienced hearing aid users. Addition of services to amplification and involvement of the SO are relevant in aural rehabilitation.
Kramer
Sophia E
SE
VU University Medical Center, Department of Audiology, P.O. Box 7057, 1007 MB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. se.kramer@vumc.nl
Allessie
G Hella M
GH
Dondorp
Agaath W
AW
Zekveld
Adriana A
AA
Kapteyn
Theo S
TS
D000368:Aged; D003142:Communication; D012048:Correction of Hearing Impairment / Q000379:methods*; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods*; D060345:Education of Persons with Hearing Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D018454:Spouses / Q000193:education*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014743:Videotape Recording