Pedagogisk intervention vid audiologisk rehabilitering med hjälp av en textbok. En randomiserad kontrollerad studie.

Abstract

Hearing is considered to be the most important sense for the communication between people. Several studies have shown that hearing loss can lead to deterioration in quality of life, reduced social activities, feelings of alienation and hence the increasing incidence of depression symptoms. An early audiological rehabilitation is a prerequisite for proper communication among people with hearing loss. Knowledge has been shown to be of great importance and structured learning and individually targeted approach can be expected to facilitate the audiological rehabilitation. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of an educational effort for people with hearing loss where the effort was made in the distance within the audiological rehabilitation and was followed-up by professional phone support, through a randomized controlled study. The study group consisted of 69 hearing aid users who were randomized by an independent person into two groups, an intervention group and a control group. The intervention group (n = 33) had access to the book "When the sounds are weaker - on hearing and hearing aids". The group received weekly topic-based information related to the different chapters of the book, in five rounds. The project manager evaluated weekly data by phone. The control group (n = 36) received only the book and was entrusted to read and evaluate the book. The study was evaluated with the help of Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly (HHIE), which was the main result measure and with the Communication Strategies Scale (CSS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA) and self-designed questionnaire Positive impact. An extended audiological rehabilitation with an educational effort and professional telephone support for the hearing aid user has for the intervention group resulted in decreased self-reported activity limitation and participation restriction, while the control group's self-reported activity limitation and participation restriction did not decrease. The effort is therefore recommended as a method to reduce the self-reported activity limitation and participation restriction for people with hearing loss but also to increase hearing aid users' participation in their own rehabilitation.