What is treatment evaluation research? What is its relationship to the goals of audiological rehabilitation? Who are the stakeholders of this type of research?

Abstract

Three topics related to treatment evaluation research in audiological rehabilitation are discussed. First, the International Classification of Impairments, Activities and Participation (ICIDH-2) (World Health Organization, 1999) is described and proposed as a general conceptual framework for the design of intervention and research activities in audiological rehabilitation. Second, the three main domains of treatment evaluation research (efficacy, effectiveness, and efficiency) are briefly outlined. Third, the various consumers of treatment evaluation research in audiological rehabilitation are identified. Also, the domains of treatment evaluation research that are of interest to each of these consumer groups are presented. An analysis of the main interests of each group of stakeholders suggests that, at present, evaluative research in audiological rehabilitation does not adequately meet the needs of all stakeholders. Nevertheless, the future of evaluative research in audiological rehabilitation is promising, for several reasons: 1) research related to audiological rehabilitation is being actively pursued especially in the areas of treatment efficacy and treatment effectiveness; 2) the audiological rehabilitation community should be able to adapt its endeavors to the proposed conceptual framework of health conditions fairly easily (ICIDH-2; World Health Organization, 1999); 3) the research needs of the primary stakeholders of audiological rehabilitation are known; and 4) there is a keen interest within the professional community to develop this area of research. All of these conditions are propitious for setting the research agenda of treatment evaluation research in audiological rehabilitation for the next several years.