Audiological approaches to address the psychosocial needs of adults with hearing loss: perceived benefit and likelihood of use

Figures & data

Table 1. Participant characteristics.

Characteristics	Adults with hearing loss (n = 52)	Audiologists (n = 19)
Age (years)
20–39	0	10
40–59	10	5
60–69	14	4
≥70	28	0
Gender, female	22 (42%)	16 (84%)
Years of hearing aid ownership (years)
0–2	18	N/A
2–5	14
6–10	5
11–15	7
≥16	8
Daily hours of hearing aid use
More than 8 hours a day	31	N/A
4–8 hours a day	6
1–4 hours a day	9
Less than 1 hour a day	3
Never	3
Years of clinical experience (years)
0–5	N/A	4
6–10		2
11–15		2
16–20		4
≥21		7

N/A: not applicable

Table 2. Theme mean (SD) scores, by participant type, and comparison between the participant groups means using Mann–Whitney test with Bonferroni corrected p values below 0.007 indicating statistical significance.

Themes	Perceived benefit of the approaches						Perceived likelihood of use of the approaches
	Adults with hearing loss Mean (SD)	Audiologists Mean (SD)	Mean difference	Difference between means			Adults with hearing loss Mean (SD)	Audiologists Mean (SD)	Mean difference	Difference between means
				Z	p Value	Effect size				Z	p Value	Effect size
Including Communication Partners (6 items)	3.34 (0.99)	4.07 (0.49)	0.73	−2.712	0.007	0.11	2.91 (1.09)	3.60 (1.11)	0.69	−2.613	0.009	0.10
Promoting Client Responsibility (5 items)	3.88 (0.76)	4.24 (0.56)	0.36	−1.708	0.088	0.04	3.67 (0.90)	4.01 (0.66)	0.34	−1.284	0.119	0.02
Use of Strategies and Training to Personalise the Rehabilitation Program (13 items)	3.73 (0.78)	4.20 (0.44)	0.47	−2.114	0.035	0.06	3.47 (0.92)	3.96 (0.66)	0.49	−1.615	0.106	0.04
Facilitating Peer and Other Professional Support (12 items)	3.13 (1.02)	3.82 (0.56)	0.69	−2.554	0.011	0.09	2.52 (1.04)	3.17 (1.15)	0.65	−2.058	0.040	0.06
Improving Social Engagement with Technology (7 items)	3.60 (0.79)	4.12 (0.54)	0.52	−2.350	0.019	0.08	3.28 (1.03)	3.78 (0.72)	0.50	−1.399	0.162	0.03
Providing Emotional Support (11 items)	3.88 (0.68)	4.40 (0.50)	0.52	−3.102	0.002	0.14	3.82 (0.91)	4.30 (0.56)	0.48	−1.908	0.056	0.05
Client Empowerment (12 items)	3.68 (0.85)	4.46 (0.39)	0.78	−3.915	<0.001	0.22	3.36 (1.03)	3.88 (0.79)	0.52	−1.840	0.066	0.05

The significant values are bolded. Mean scores could potentially range from 1 to 5, with higher mean scores indicating greater perceived benefit or likelihood of use of the approaches.

Figure 1. Comparison perceived benefit against perceived likelihood of use for participant mean rating scores for each theme (participant groups analysed separately). Significant differences denoted by *, calculated using independent t-tests with Bonferroni corrected p values below 0.007 indicating significance.