An Australian survey of audiologists' preferences for patient-centredness.

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; Krupat et al, 2000) 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.