Assessment of a Hearing Aid Training Program for Health Care Workers

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Audiology
• Health Education

Background:

• Older adults often require assistance with hearing aid operation and maintenance.
• Health care workers and personal care aides (PCAs) play a crucial role in supporting older adults with hearing aids.
• A need exists for specialized training programs to equip caregivers with essential hearing aid skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate an in-person hearing aid training program for health care workers and PCAs.
• To assess the program's effectiveness in improving participants' practical hearing aid skills.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled study involving 18 health care workers and PCAs.
• Participants were assigned to either an experimental group receiving hearing aid training or a control group.
• The Practical Hearing Aid Skills Test-Revised Version 2 (PHAST-Rv2) was administered pre- and post-training.
• A 2x2 mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for statistical analysis.

Main Results:

• The experimental group showed a significant improvement in PHAST-Rv2 scores, increasing from 59.50% to 95.84%.
• The control group demonstrated minimal improvement, with scores rising from 57.66% to 59.96%.
• Key areas of improvement for the experimental group included microphone port brushing, dome cleaning, charger use, and insertion into a model ear.

Conclusions:

• The developed hearing aid training program is an efficient and effective method for enhancing caregiver skills.
• This program can improve health care workers' confidence and competence in managing hearing aids for older adults.
• Specialized training is vital for optimizing hearing aid use and benefits in geriatric care.