title: Age-related hearing loss in individuals and their caregivers: effects of coping on the quality of life among the dyads.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) impacts the daily living and quality of life (QoL) of affected individuals and the functioning of family caregivers. In the specific context of voluntary medical checkups, we examined sample dyads (ARHL individual and the caregiver) to determine whether QoL of patients and caregivers is influenced by coping strategies implemented either by themselves or their relatives.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional study with a descriptive/correlative design performed in a French preventive health center (Regional Institute for Prevention of Aging, Marseille, France) for the beneficiaries of pension funds of private sector employees. The samples included beneficiary-caregiver dyads. The beneficiaries had bilateral (mild to moderately severe) ARHL. Self-reported data were collected as follows: QoL using the World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire, coping strategies using the Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Scale, and anxiety and mood using visual analog scales.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The final sample comprised 44 beneficiaries and 44 caregivers. The caregiver was the partner of the beneficiary in 73% of cases. The QoL scores of the social dimension were significantly lower for beneficiaries and caregivers compared with French age- and sex-matched controls. Among beneficiaries and caregivers, coping strategies based on problem solving were the most commonly used strategies. The use of positive thinking strategies was associated with higher QoL scores. The more one member of the dyad used an avoidance coping strategy, the more the other member used a positive thinking strategy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study emphasizes that QoL of individuals with age-related hearing impairment and their natural caregivers is related to the coping strategies that they use. This finding suggests that targeted interventions should be offered to help individuals who experience emotional difficulties to implement more efficient coping strategies.
authors.affiliation: EA 3279, Self-Perceived Health Assessment Research Unit, School of Medicine, Aix Marseille Université; French Regional Institute for Prevention of Aging, Marseille.
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lazzarotto
authors.affiliation: EA 3279, Self-Perceived Health Assessment Research Unit, School of Medicine, Aix Marseille Université.
authors.forename: Karine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Baumstarck
authors.affiliation: EA 3279, Self-Perceived Health Assessment Research Unit, School of Medicine, Aix Marseille Université.
authors.forename: Anderson
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Loundou
authors.affiliation: EA 3279, Self-Perceived Health Assessment Research Unit, School of Medicine, Aix Marseille Université; National Clinical Research Quality of Life in Oncology Platform, Marseille.
authors.forename: Zeinab
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hamidou
authors.affiliation: EA 3279, Self-Perceived Health Assessment Research Unit, School of Medicine, Aix Marseille Université.
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Aghababian
authors.affiliation: EA 3279, Self-Perceived Health Assessment Research Unit, School of Medicine, Aix Marseille Université; Social Psychology Research Group (GRePS EA 4163), Université Lumière Lyon 2, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Tanguy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Leroy
authors.affiliation: EA 3279, Self-Perceived Health Assessment Research Unit, School of Medicine, Aix Marseille Université.
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Auquier
keywords: age-related hearing impairment; caregivers; coping; dyads; emotional status; quality of life