“It’s Huge, in a Way.” Conflicting Stakeholder Priorities for Managing Hearing Impairment for People Living with Dementia in Residential Aged Care Facilities

ABSTRACT

Objectives

The aims of this study were to a) explore the impact of hearing impairment on people living with dementia in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) and b) investigate management of hearing impairment for this population.

Methods

A descriptive qualitative approach, consisting of semi-structured interviews, was conducted with 23 participants across four stakeholder groups (audiologists, care staff, family members and individuals with dementia and hearing impairment living in RACFs).

Results

Thematic analysis revealed an overarching theme of “different priorities for managing hearing impairment” that emerged from the data. Audiologists and care staff prioritized different practices for managing hearing impairment: audiologists emphasized hearing aids and care staff emphasized communication strategies. Care staff also identified that current management of hearing impairment was sub-optimal as they do not prioritize managing it.

Conclusions

Residents with dementia and hearing impairment living in RACFs are not receiving optimal hearing management. Further research is required to understand the factors that influence this.

Clinical implications

Changes in practices of both care staff and audiologists are required to improve hearing impairment management for this population.

KEYWORDS:

• Dementia
• hearing impairment
• qualitative
• thematic analysis
• residential aged care facility

Clinical implications

Hearing impairment has far-reaching consequences for residents with dementia, affecting mood, behavior and communication.

Hearing impairment is sub-optimally managed for this population.

Changes in practices of both care staff and audiologists is required to improve hearing impairment management for adults living with dementia in RACFs.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of: Professor Robert Cowan and Dr Kathryn Havas in reviewing this manuscript; Churches of Christ Care for their support of this research project; and all participants who gave their time to take part in this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the HEARing CRC, established under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program. The CRC Program supports industry-led collaborations between industry, researchers, and the community.