An Australian survey of audiologists’ preferences for patient-centredness

Abstract

Objective: Patient-centredness is becoming a core value of health services worldwide, however it remains largely unexplored in audiology. This study investigated audiologists’ preferences for patient-centredness and identified factors that explain audiologists’ preferences for patient-centredness. Design: All members of the Audiological Society of Australia received two questionnaires: (1) a descriptive questionnaire (e.g. age, gender, place of residence, years in practice, employment characteristics), and (2) a modified patient-practitioner orientation scale (PPOS; ) which measures preferences for two aspects of patient-centredness, sharing and caring. Study sample: In total 663 (46%) audiologists returned both questionnaires fully completed. Results: Mean PPOS scores indicated that audiologists prefer patient-centredness. Linear regression modelling identified that older audiologists, that had practiced longer, and who worked in community education, industrial audiology, or teaching had a significantly greater preference for patient-centredness than their peers. In contrast, audiologists who practiced in a private environment and who worked in the area of assessment of adults had a significantly lesser preference for patient-centredness than their peers. Conclusions: Audiologists prefer client-centredness and age, years of experience, and employment characteristics can partly explain preferences for patient-centredness. Future research should explore the relationships between patient-centredness and intervention outcomes in audiology.

Key Words::

• Patient-centredness
• audiologist
• clinical interaction
• health communication
• Australia

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr Asad Khan who provided statistical advice, Olivia Bakiewicz, David White, and John Yeh who contributed to survey design and data entry, the Audiological Society of Australia who distributed the surveys, and Bianca Butler who assisted with data entry. The authors acknowledge the financial support of the HEARing CRC, established and supported under the Cooperative Research Centres Program – an initiative of the Australian Government, and the Australian Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.