National Centre for Audiology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2024 Aug 5;67(8):2794-2810. doi: 10.1044/2024_JSLHR-23-00679. Epub 2024 Jul 17.
Technology-enabled care, including the use of mobile health (mHealth), is emerging as a viable hearing health care delivery method. While the integration of mHealth with adult populations currently supports a wide array of hearing services, a better understanding of the implementation across the lifespan is needed. Literature surrounding the unique population of adolescent hearing aid users is currently lacking. Research is needed to highlight factors important to the use and clinical integration of mHealth hearing aid applications (apps) with adolescents. This study explored two primary objectives: (a) audiologists' perceptions around the use of mHealth apps to enable collaborative, child-inclusive hearing aid personalization, and (b) person-centered ideation around potential app design components to benefit users aged 12 to 17 years.
Twelve audiologists participated in virtual synchronous focus groups, across three group sessions using Cisco Webex. Sessions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using an inductive, codebook thematic analysis approach.
Six main themes resulted from group discussion analyses: (a) client candidacy: characteristics impacting suitability for mHealth use; (b) clinical implementation: organizational, professional, or patient-level strategies for mHealth adoption; (c) collaboration: the use of two or more individuals working together; (d) empowerment: process of acquiring and using knowledge, skills, and strategies; (e) remote technology: technologies enabling remote hearing aid personalization; and (f) application functionality and design: features and characteristics important to an adolescent-focused app.
Findings identified the potential for clinical integration of hearing aid apps with adolescents in a collaborative care model, including consideration of child-specific use patterns, outcomes, and key design and technology components to support real-world implementation and use. Results may guide development and tailoring efforts around existing and future hearing aid apps for use with adolescent populations.
包括移动健康（mHealth）在内的技术支持型护理正逐渐成为一种可行的听力保健服务提供方式。虽然 mHealth 与成人人群的整合目前支持广泛的听力服务，但需要更好地了解其在整个生命周期中的实施情况。目前缺乏关于青少年助听器使用者这一独特人群的相关文献。需要开展研究来强调 mHealth 助听器应用程序（apps）与青少年使用和临床整合相关的重要因素。本研究探讨了两个主要目标：（a）听力学家对使用 mHealth 应用程序来实现协作式、包含儿童的助听器个性化设置的看法，以及（b）围绕潜在应用程序设计组件的以用户为中心的构思，以造福 12 至 17 岁的用户。
12 名听力学家参加了虚拟同步焦点小组，使用 Cisco Webex 进行了三次小组会议。对会议进行了录音、转录和分析，采用了一种归纳的、有编码簿的主题分析方法。
小组讨论分析产生了六个主要主题：（a）患者适合性：影响 mHealth 使用适用性的特征；（b）临床实施：mHealth 采用的组织、专业或患者层面的策略；（c）协作：两个或更多人一起工作；（d）赋权：获取和使用知识、技能和策略的过程；（e）远程技术：使助听器个性化远程化的技术；以及（f）应用功能和设计：对以青少年为重点的应用程序重要的功能和特征。
研究结果确定了在协作式护理模式中，将助听器应用程序与青少年临床整合的潜力，包括考虑特定于儿童的使用模式、结果以及关键设计和技术组件，以支持实际实施和使用。研究结果可能为现有和未来的青少年群体助听器应用程序的开发和定制工作提供指导。
