Psychometric evaluation of hearing specific self-report measures and their associations with psychosocial and demographic variables

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to collect descriptive data and to evaluate the psychometric properties of a range of self-report questionnaires in a Swedish population. Other aims were to investigate the correlations between these measures and the higher order factorial structure of the included questionnaires. One hundred and sixty-two first-time hearing aid users completed four standardized hearing specific questionnaires: the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly (HHIE); the Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Life (SADL); the Communication Strategies Scale (CSS); and the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA). In addition, two psychosocial questionnaires were completed: the Sense of Coherence scale (SOC); and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). All measures were administered at one year post hearing aid fitting. Mean scores for the questionnaires were in agreement with previous studies. The questionnaires were found to be reliable and acceptable for further clinical use. Correlations were seen across different hearing specific questionnaires, and between hearing aid use and satisfaction. Psychosocial variables were more strongly associated with participation restriction and satisfaction than with the demographic variables, confirming the importance of subjective measures. The factor analysis extracted four factors: psychosocial well-being, hearing aid satisfaction, adaptive communications strategies, and residual participation restriction, and indicated that the number of questionnaires could be reduced. It is concluded that psychosocial factors are important to consider in hearing aid rehabilitation and their possible role should be further investigated in future studies.

• hearing aids
• satisfaction
• participation restriction
• sense of coherence