Counseling Competencies in Audiology: A Modified Delphi Study

Purpose Counseling practices in audiology play a critical role in helping patients and families understand, accept, and adjust to the dynamic impacts ear-related disorders have on their lives. The purpose of this study was to identify what competencies (i.e., knowledge, skills, and attitudes) are important for audiologists to possess to provide effective counseling in practice. Method A modified Delphi study design was used to survey a panel of 33 professionals with expertise in audiologic counseling from 5 different countries. In the 1st survey round, experts were asked to respond to 3 open-ended prompts. Responses were condensed and revised into items experts were asked to rate during the 2nd and 3rd survey rounds, on a 6-point Likert scale of importance. Results A total of 819 items were generated from the open-ended prompts. A total of 72 items were included in the 2nd and 3rd rounds of survey instruments. Consensus was met on 64 audiologic counseling competency items. Conclusions The competency items identified in this study reflect important knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are important to audiologic counseling. Items that met consensus in this study can inform competencies audiology students can acquire during graduate training. Practice guidelines in the field currently lack the necessary clarity and detail needed for implementation of counseling competencies in clinical education. Future research is needed to explore factors important for implementation of evidence-based counseling training in graduate audiology programs.