Conceptions of working life among employees with mild-moderate aided hearing impairment: A phenomenographic study

Abstract

Objectives: The aim was to explore the conceptions of working life among employees with mild-moderate aided hearing impairment (HI). Design: This study has a descriptive design, in which data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The text was analysed in accordance with the phenomenographic approach. Study sample: Fifteen participants with mild-moderate aided HI were recruited to the current study. Results: The analysis of the interviews resulted in four main categories describing the participants’ conceptions of working life: (1) diffiiculties in daily work, (2) communication strategies, (3) facilitating factors in work environment, and (4) impact on daily life. The four identified descriptive categories show that the effects of HI on the lives of working adults generate far-reaching psychosocial consequences for the individual. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that difficulties and impact of having a HI interact with strategies used by the individual and contextual facilitators made in the work environment. We argue that there is a need for extensive services in aural rehabilitation for this population. This includes identifying the need of assistive listening devices, teaching the individual with HI about communication strategies and informing stakeholders about the consequence of having a HI.

Key Words::

• Conceptions
• employees
• fatigue
• hearing impairment
• labor market
• noise
• phenomenography
• withdrawal

Acknowledgements

The study would not have been possible without the study participants who generously gave their time to participate in the current study. The authors would also like to thank Jonas Birkelöf, Ann-Marie Helgstedt, Jennie Hjaldahl, Tobias Åslund, and Rachel Ellis for providing assistance and help during the study. Thanks are also due to two anonymous reviewers for providing valuable comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. This study was funded by AFA Insurance.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest.