Choi Janet S, Shim Kyoo S, Shin Na E, Nieman Carrie L, Mamo Sara K, Han Hae-Ra, Lin Frank R
Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, California, Los Angeles, USA.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
J Cross Cult Gerontol. 2019 Sep;34(3):223-243. doi: 10.1007/s10823-019-09376-6.
Although hearing loss is known to be associated with many adverse health outcomes in older adults, current hearing healthcare remains expensive and inaccessible to most ethnic minorities in the US. We aim to adapt an affordable, community-based hearing intervention to older Korean Americans (KAs), describe the cultural adaption process, and report pilot trial outcomes. We undertook the first four stages of Barrera & Castro's cultural adaptation framework: information gathering, preliminary adaptation design, adaptation test, and adaptation refinement in 15 older KAs with hearing loss and 15 of their communication partners. We developed a culturally adapted intervention consisting of provision of an affordable listening device and aural rehabilitative training. Six weeks post-intervention, participants' mean hearing handicap score (range: 0-40) reduced from 15.7 to 6.4. Communication partners demonstrated improved social-emotional function. Post-intervention focus group revealed increased hearing benefit, confidence in hearing health navigation, and awareness in hearing health among study participants. The adapted intervention was well-accepted and feasible among older KAs. This study is the first to report the cultural adaptation process of a hearing care model into older KAs and its methodology may be applied to other minority groups.
尽管已知听力损失与老年人的许多不良健康后果相关，但目前的听力保健服务仍然昂贵，美国大多数少数民族难以获得。我们旨在为韩裔美国老年人（KA）调整一种经济实惠的、基于社区的听力干预措施，描述文化适应过程，并报告试点试验结果。我们采用了巴雷拉和卡斯特罗文化适应框架的前四个阶段：信息收集、初步适应设计、适应测试和适应完善，涉及15名有听力损失的老年韩裔美国人和15名他们的交流伙伴。我们开发了一种文化适应干预措施，包括提供一种经济实惠的听力设备和听觉康复训练。干预六周后，参与者的平均听力障碍得分（范围：0 - 40）从15.7降至6.4。交流伙伴的社会情感功能得到改善。干预后的焦点小组显示，研究参与者的听力益处增加、听力健康导航信心增强以及听力健康意识提高。这种适应后的干预措施在老年韩裔美国人中得到了很好的接受且可行。本研究首次报告了听力保健模式对老年韩裔美国人的文化适应过程，其方法可能适用于其他少数群体。
