title: Providing an internet-based audiological counselling programme to new hearing aid users: a qualitative study.
abstract: People with an acquired hearing loss often have difficulty adjusting to a first hearing aid. Studies have shown that audiological counselling can facilitate adjustment to a first hearing aid. Because of its interactive nature, the internet could be a valuable tool to gain information about the experiences of the new hearing aid user and to address the needs for audiological counselling. An internet-based audiological counselling programme in the form of daily e-mails during the first month after the hearing aid fitting was offered to three new hearing aid users. The data, qualitative in nature, were comprised of the content of the e-mails and of in-depth interviews with the participants and their audiologist, and were analysed according to grounded theory. Overall, the internet-based audiological counselling programme provided rich descriptions of the experiences of the participants and reinforced positive adjustment behaviours experienced by them.
authors.affiliation: Ecole d'orthophonie et d'audiologie, Faculté de médecine, Université de Montréal, Canada. ariane.laplante-levesque@umontreal.ca
authors.forename: Ariane
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Laplante-Lévesque
authors.forename: M Kathleen
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Pichora-Fuller
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Gagné
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001298:Audiology / Q000379:methods*; D003142:Communication; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D016730:Program Development