1. The audiological rehabilitation of workers with hearing loss in the UK: a qualitative study of workers' perspectives.
- Author
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Zuriekat, Margaret, Alqudah, Safa, Semeraro, Hannah, Watson, Victoria, Rowan, Daniel, Kirby, Sarah, and Ferguson, Melanie
- Subjects
SOCIAL media ,PATIENT selection ,THERAPEUTICS ,QUALITATIVE research ,REHABILITATION ,AUDIOLOGY ,INTERVIEWING ,HUMAN research subjects ,DESCRIPTIVE statistics ,ATTITUDE (Psychology) ,THEMATIC analysis ,SOUND recordings ,EMPLOYMENT of people with disabilities ,RESEARCH methodology ,HEARING disorders ,HEARING impaired - Abstract
Purpose: Unaddressed hearing loss can adversely affect employment and day-to-day work-life. Efficient and effective audiology support can help optimise hearing in the workplace. This study explores the audiological rehabilitation experiences of workers with hearing loss (WHL). Materials and methods: Twenty-four WHL with experience of a wide range of audiology services across the UK participated in semi-structured interviews. Interviews were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Results: Three main themes were generated: Theme 1: mixed experiences with audiology services (subdivided into two subthemes and four sub-subthemes). Theme 2: audiology role in work support (subdivided into three subthemes). Theme 3: "I think support could be improved if..." (subdivided into two subthemes). Conclusion: The audiological rehabilitation for working-age adults with hearing loss needs improvements to deliver sufficient support and quality care. Some of the barriers to having better-functioning hearing healthcare require fundamental standards in healthcare quality, such as access to services, staff (including audiologists) deaf awareness, information and technology support, and personalised care that considers work-life needs. Further research is required to evaluate the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of improvements, such as support that extends beyond hearing aid care, whether from audiology or non-audiology services. IMPLICATION FOR REHABILITATION: Workers with hearing loss need audiologists' support to address their work life needs beyond hearing-aids care. Improving audiologists' competencies, audiology departments' efficiency and developing relevant resources may promote better healthcare for workers with hearing loss. Audiologists, employers, workers, and the healthcare system need to collaborate in developing person-centred solutions to sufficiently assist workers with hearing loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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