| Summary: | Aim: To evaluate an audiologic rehabilitation program previously piloted in the U.S. (Kelly-Campbell, in review) for unaided hearing-impaired working adults that was also modified to include their significant others.
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Method: In this quasi-randomised repeated measures waitlist design, forty-eight participants (24 hearing-impaired adults and their 24 normal hearing significant others) aged 50-64 years were randomised into either a non-waitlist group (immediate treatment), or a waitlist group (treatment after 12-weeks). In these groups, participant couples attended three weekly 2-hour group sessions and completed health-related quality of life (HRQOL) assessments.
Treatment outcomes for hearing-impaired adults (HIAs) were measured from self and significant other (SO) proxy reports of the Communication Profile for the Hearing Impaired (CPHI; Demorest & Erdman, 1986; 1987). Treatment outcomes for SOs were measured from self-reports of the Significant Other Scale for Hearing Disability (SOS-HEAR; Scarinci, Worrall & Hickson, 2009b). An investigation of the effect of treatment on the congruence of SO-proxy versus HIA HRQOL measures was also undertaken.
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Results: A series of analyses of variance and repeated-measures t-tests examined HRQOL outcomes for HIAs and their SOs between pre-treatment, post-treatment, and at 12-weeks follow-up. Results suggest a significant effect of time for all HRQOL assessments, with gender effects found for CPHI measures, but not for SOS-HEAR measures. Medium to large effect sizes were revealed for both HIAs and their SOs.
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Conclusions: Group AR appears to be a beneficial treatment approach for reducing the consequences of hearing impairment for HIAs and for their normal hearing SOs.
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