Hearing Loss and Communication Needs in a Group Care Setting for Older Adults

The purpose of this study is to develop and test a multicomponent hearing care intervention for the PACE staff members in order to learn more about communication and engagement.

The long-term objective of this proposal is to increase the accessibility and affordability of hearing loss treatment for older adults with hearing loss, with a particular interest in adults that have mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia. Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) in persons with MCI or dementia may exacerbate dementia-related symptoms such as depression, apathy, agitation/aggression. Moreover, engagement and activity participation are recognized as critical aspects of dementia care management, but those individuals who also experience ARHL are at a disadvantage. A pilot testing of behavioral communication intervention will be completed at multiple Program for All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) sites in New England. A multicomponent hearing care intervention will be tested that includes staff training and non-custom personal amplification use with older adults in a group care setting. This feasibility study will lead to the refinement of the intervention protocols to be used in a future grant application that will test the real-world efficacy of the intervention.

Staff will be invited to participate in an experiential virtual sensitivity training. A pre/post quasi-experimental design will be undertaken. Staff will be asked to complete a pre-training questionnaire as well as follow-up questionnaires immediately after the training and one month, three months, and six months post training to measure knowledge gained and to probe for behavior change related to the communication strategies taught during the training. Some participants who complete questionnaires will be contacted and invited to participate in a research interview about their communication experiences at PACE. The training session will last for up to 1 hour. All questionnaires are expected to take approximately 15 minutes each. Interviews will take 1-hour.

Participants will complete a baseline questionnaire followed by immediate virtual training, and complete a post-training questionnaire. Participants will also be asked to complete a questionnaire 1-month, 3-months, and 6-months post-training.

Participants will receive a virtual training that is tailored to age-related hearing loss, use of non-custom personal amplification devices, and communication strategies.

Participants will complete a questionnaire to monitor retention of communication strategies and behaviors.

Participants will complete a questionnaire to monitor retention of communication strategies and behaviors.

Participants will complete a questionnaire to monitor retention of communication strategies and behaviors.

We will purposefully sample staff members whose quantitative results indicate that they were either successful or unsuccessful in learning and using new communication behaviors.

Inclusion Criteria: PACE staff who work in the Day Health Center and are available to attend the training on-site at PACE are eligible for inclusion. All staff are invited to join the training (via Zoom, if necessary), but to complete the research activities, they have to complete the training in-person due to the hands-on component of learning to use the hearing device. Exclusion Criteria: Staff members who cannot attend the (virtual) in-person training.

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