Assistant Professor, Bangalore Speech and Hearing Research Foundation, Chandrasekhar institute of Speech and Hearing, Bangalore, India.
Int Tinnitus J. 2024 Mar 21;27(2):104-112. doi: 10.5935/0946-5448.20230017.
Health care providers must be aware of the choices in aural rehabilitation methods and assessment procedures available presently to those with hearing impairment in order to facilitate early identification and intervention and ensure quality of care to those hearing impaired individuals. The referrals from the medical fraternities for the audiological services are not uniform across India. Part of reason may be that awareness about the roles of and responsibilities of audiologist's is poor among medical practitioners. In some regions of India medical practitioners may be only grossly be aware of audiologists per se. They may not know enough to refer all individuals with hearing or balance disorders for the required audiological services.
To evaluate changes in pre survey and post survey after education intervention specifically planned for medical practitioners in the state of Sikkim, India. Education intervention included awareness about hearing impairment and its assessment and management by audiologists.
A pre and post survey comparison research design with purposive convenient sampling technique was applied. Participants were medical practitioners working in geographical area of Sikkim at the time of the study. Inspection of demographic data of respondents showed that they were in their age range of 24 and 60 years and with work experience ranging 1-40 years. Participants were invited for an awareness talk which included, information about hearing loss, early identification and early intervention, tests and management of hearing loss in different age groups, need for hearing aids/cochlear implants, auditory training, and the role of an audiologist in the management of hearing loss and ways to prevent hearing loss. A pre and post awareness program responses were collected from all the participants using a customized questionnaire tool.
Respondents exhibited, in the pre-survey questionnaire, lack of awareness in many aspects of audiology, including assessing hearing impairment, diagnosing hearing loss, and the role of an audiologist. There was an overall, statistically significant difference in the level of performance on the pre-awareness and post-awareness responses.
Following an awareness campaign among the medical professionals in Sikkim, there was a considerable change in their level of awareness of hearing impairment, its assessment, and management by audiologists. The reach of the awareness campaign was significant as around 70% of subjects showed significant change in their knowledge and attitude towards hearing impairment, its management.
医疗保健提供者必须了解目前听力障碍者可选择的听觉康复方法和评估程序，以便及早发现和干预，并确保为听力障碍者提供优质的护理。印度各地对听力服务的转诊并不统一。部分原因可能是医疗从业者对听力学家的角色和责任缺乏认识。在印度的一些地区，医疗从业者可能只是对听力学家有一个大致的了解。他们可能不知道将所有听力或平衡障碍患者都转介到所需的听力服务。
评估在为印度锡金邦的医疗从业者专门进行教育干预后的调查前和调查后的变化。教育干预包括对听力障碍及其由听力学家进行的评估和管理的认识。
采用预调查和后调查比较研究设计，并结合了便利抽样技术。参与者是在研究时在锡金邦地理区域工作的医疗从业者。对受访者的人口统计学数据进行检查后发现，他们的年龄在 24 至 60 岁之间，工作经验在 1 至 40 年之间。邀请参与者参加一次意识讲座，内容包括听力损失信息、早期识别和早期干预、不同年龄组听力损失的测试和管理、助听器/人工耳蜗的需求、听觉训练，以及听力学家在听力损失管理和预防听力损失方面的作用。使用定制的问卷工具从所有参与者那里收集了意识计划前后的反应。
在预调查问卷中，受访者在听力科学的许多方面表现出缺乏意识，包括评估听力障碍、诊断听力损失以及听力学家的角色。在意识前后的反应中，总体表现出统计学上的显著差异。
在对锡金邦的医疗专业人员进行宣传运动后，他们对听力障碍、其评估和由听力学家管理的认识水平有了相当大的提高。宣传运动的影响范围很广，因为约 70%的受试者在他们对听力障碍及其管理的知识和态度方面表现出显著的变化。
