Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
S Afr J Commun Disord. 2022 Aug 10;69(2):e1-e9. doi: 10.4102/sajcd.v69i2.904.
Residential care homes for older persons were especially affected during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic lockdowns which resulted in limited social interactions and service provision. Communication became challenging due to the prophylactic use of masks and social distancing.
This qualitative research study set out to explore audiological service considerations in residential care homes for older persons during the COVID-19 restrictions.
Through purposive sampling, nine managers from residential care homes for older persons in Johannesburg participated in semi-structured, online interviews. The transcriptions of these recorded interviews underwent thematic analysis.
Managers employed various strategies to attend to residents' audiological needs, audiological health, hearing aid use, and hearing aid provision. Furthermore, it transpired that other health related services were prioritised over audiological services in general, but especially during the pandemic lockdowns. Managers reported that staff had to use various communication strategies due to COVID-19 precautions and that masks and social distancing made communication more challenging for residents with hearing loss. Moreover, isolation and modified service provision were extremely taxing on residents.
This study highlights the need for continued audiological services at residential care homes, but also the need to balance audiological needs with other health needs because these seem to be prioritised over hearing loss, especially in this population who may have limited agency and choice in the health care options available to them. Furthermore, adapted strategies need to be considered to support communication considering COVID-19 precautions so that communicative difficulties do not exacerbate lockdown isolation.
老年人居住护理院在 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行封锁期间受到特别影响，这导致社交互动和服务提供受到限制。由于预防性使用口罩和保持社交距离，沟通变得具有挑战性。
本定性研究旨在探讨 COVID-19 限制期间老年人居住护理院的听力学服务考虑因素。
通过目的抽样，来自约翰内斯堡的 9 名老年人居住护理院经理参加了半结构式在线访谈。这些录音访谈的文字记录进行了主题分析。
经理们采用了各种策略来满足居民的听力学需求、听力健康、助听器使用和助听器供应。此外，一般来说，其他与健康相关的服务优先于听力学服务，尤其是在大流行封锁期间。经理们报告说，由于 COVID-19 预防措施，工作人员不得不使用各种沟通策略，口罩和保持社交距离使听力损失的居民的沟通更加困难。此外，隔离和修改后的服务提供对居民造成了极大的压力。
本研究强调了在居住护理院继续提供听力学服务的必要性，但也需要平衡听力学需求与其他健康需求，因为在这些可能在可用的医疗保健选择方面有限的机构和选择的人群中，这些需求似乎优先于听力损失。此外，需要考虑适应 COVID-19 预防措施的策略来支持沟通，以避免沟通困难加剧封锁隔离。
