Measuring the effectiveness of an audiological counseling program

Abstract

Objective: Audiologists routinely observe patients struggle with psycho-emotional difficulties associated with hearing loss, yet are often underprepared to manage this vital aspect of patient care. For this reason, a workshop was developed for audiologists interested in expanding their counselling skills. Since one-time workshops typically do not result in changes in practice, this program adopted a distributed-over-time learning model, consisting of 20 hours of participation across six weeks. The extended nature of the program provided multiple opportunities to learn several counselling strategies, and apply and evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies in clinical settings. Design: Learning objectives were assessed throughout the six-week program. However, at the conclusion of each program, it was unknown whether new knowledge carried over into sustained new skills. Therefore, we surveyed attendees six months after their program, to determine if the program had affected changes in their practice. Study sample: Twenty clinicians (response rate = 91%) participated in the survey. Results: All respondents made some, and often many, changes in patient communication. They applied several counseling concepts to their work settings and reported positive changes in patient-clinician dynamics. Conclusion: Results suggest that a six-week program is effective in helping clinicians change their counseling skills within their practice.