title: Determinants of Department of Veterans Affairs hearing aid brand dispensing by individual audiologists.
abstract: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) audiologists were surveyed regarding their perceptions and evaluations of hearing aid (HA) brands on seven factors previously published in peer-reviewed research as important to the HA brand preference decision of audiologists. One of the seven factors formed a distinct dimension of brand differentiation based on Contract Pricing (dimension 1). Brand perceptions for the other six factors were highly correlated with one another; this dimension of correlated perceptions was labeled Propensity to Dispense Based on a Gestalt Percept (dimension 2). That is, a direct relation exists between the collective perception of HA brand and its likelihood of being dispensed. These two dimensions accounted for 93.1% of the variance in the perceived differences among the HA brands surveyed. Joint-space mapping was used to model the effect of altering perceptions on VA HA brand dispensing. Results indicate that few VA audiologists (7.7%) dispense HA brands in majority association with contract pricing. Instead, the vast majority (77%) form brand preferences in majority association with their individualized perceptions.
authors.affiliation: Mountain Home Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Mountain Home, TN, USA. earl.johnson@va.gov
authors.forename: Earl E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001298:Audiology; D032982:Contracts / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs