Attitudes towards co-workers affected by occupational hearing loss. I: Questionnaire development and inquiry

Previous studies have shown that attitudes of workers towards their hearing impaired colleagues strongly contribute to the psychosocial disadvantages associated with occupational hearing loss (OHL). A questionnaire has been designed to characterize such attitudes. In phase I, a preliminary version consisting of 45 items was divided equally into scales of knowledge, attitudes and reported behaviour towards co-workers affected by OHL. Answers from 176 workers from a metal products plant enabled us to identify discriminative items that belonged to an appropriate factorial structure. In phase II, the response of 125 miners to a second version of the questionnaire, comprising 32 items, permitted further refinement. The final version was tested with 250 workers from three plants. Answers on the scale measuring knowledge showed that noise-exposed workers were not aware of the major consequences of OHL. Attitudes towards hearing impaired co-workers were generally favourable, but this finding appeared to reflect a strong social desirability bias. Reported behaviour indicated that a majority of workers are not inclined to adopt types of conduct that favour communication with people having OHL. Those workers who perceive themselves to be moderately to severely hearing impaired had a more negative image of hearing impaired workers, while reporting more facilitating and helping types of behaviour towards them, they also reported much more frequent contact with them. The findings provide strong indications that hearing impairment in noisy industrial settings frequently goes unnoticed and that many workers who are at risk of developing OHL are often unaware that some of their co-workers are already affected. These findings offer useful leads for the development of an awareness programme on the consequences of OHL.