title: Tele-intervention for children with hearing loss: A comparative pilot study.
abstract: Introduction This pilot study compared tele-intervention to conventional intervention for children with hearing loss in terms of communication performance, parental perceptions and clinician perceptions. Methods A within-subject design was employed, including 10 children with hearing loss and their parents who each received a structurally similar tele-intervention and conventional intervention session in a counterbalanced manner. Quality of communication performance was analysed using a modified Tait video analysis method. Parent and clinician perceptions were collected through rating-scale surveys and thematic analysis of qualitative responses. Results No significant difference ( p > 0.05) was found between tele-intervention and conventional intervention in terms of communication performance of children. Parent perceptions were not significantly different ( p > 0.05) between conventional and tele-intervention in terms of facilitating meaningful communication interaction. Significant differences were evident for parents' comfort level during the session, whether they found it to be a beneficial experience and whether they would like to continue receiving intervention through this method.  Clinician perceptions of conventional and tele-intervention were not significantly different ( p > 0.05) and tele-intervention was deemed a valuable method of service delivery for clients. Discussion This study provides preliminary evidence that tele-intervention is effective for communication intervention and can be a valuable solution to typical barriers such as distance and the shortage of trained interventionists.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, South Africa.
authors.forename: Estienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Havenga
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, South Africa.|2 Ear Sciences Centre, The University of Western Australia, Australia.|3 Ear Science Institute Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: De Wet
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Swanepoel
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, South Africa.
authors.forename: Talita
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: le Roux
authors.affiliation: 4 Centre for Listening and Spoken Language, South Africa.
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schmid
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000150:complications / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010865:Pilot Projects; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000592:standards*
keywords: Tele-intervention; children with hearing loss; clinical outcomes; clinician perceptions; communication performance; parent perceptions; tele-rehabilitation