Jocelyn Phillips, Dani Tomlin, Kelley Graydon, Julia Sarant
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose: Early diagnosis is crucial for infants with hearing loss, but access to specialized services can be challenging for some families. This study piloted a student-facilitated teleaudiology model for infant diagnostics and investigated caregiver opinions of this service in Victoria, Australia.
Method: Eight families with infants under 6 months old participated in either in-person or teleaudiology appointments, followed by interviews with caregivers to explore their experiences. Thematic analysis was used to analyze interview data.
Results: Four main themes emerged: (a) improved accessibility of appointments; (b) effective rapport building and communication, with concerns for supporting challenging scenarios; (c) varying perceptions of facilitator involvement; and (d) level of concern influencing family preferences for appointment type. Caregivers reported positive experiences with teleaudiology, citing improved convenience and reduced travel time as major benefits. However, some expressed concerns about the provision of adequate emotional support in complex cases via telehealth and some impacts of having student facilitators on caregiver confidence in the results.
Conclusions: While a student-facilitated teleaudiology service could improve access to infant diagnostic audiology, family preferences and appointment complexity should be considered when offering this option. Future research should explore the feasibility of this service with a larger sample size.
期刊介绍：
Mission: AJA publishes peer-reviewed research and other scholarly articles pertaining to clinical audiology methods and issues, and serves as an outlet for discussion of related professional and educational issues and ideas. The journal is an international outlet for research on clinical research pertaining to screening, diagnosis, management and outcomes of hearing and balance disorders as well as the etiologies and characteristics of these disorders. The clinical orientation of the journal allows for the publication of reports on audiology as implemented nationally and internationally, including novel clinical procedures, approaches, and cases. AJA seeks to advance evidence-based practice by disseminating the results of new studies as well as providing a forum for critical reviews and meta-analyses of previously published work.
Scope: The broad field of clinical audiology, including audiologic/aural rehabilitation; balance and balance disorders; cultural and linguistic diversity; detection, diagnosis, prevention, habilitation, rehabilitation, and monitoring of hearing loss; hearing aids, cochlear implants, and hearing-assistive technology; hearing disorders; lifespan perspectives on auditory function; speech perception; and tinnitus.
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