Counselling of adults who need amplification : practices of South African audiologists.
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Date
2014
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Abstract
This study focused on adult rehabilitative audiology, in particular the counseling offered to adults
who require hearing aids; and examined the practices and views of South African Audiologists.
Counseling within the audiology profession has gained increased attention over the years as the
profession has evolved with the technological advancements of modern hearing aids. On a global
scale the educational qualification as well as curriculum has shifted in recent years. The current
practises of counseling adults, who need amplification, needs to be understood more widely in South
Africa and these topics were investigated in this research, with the purpose of highlighting and
influencing best practice. The barriers faced by audiologists need to be better understood in order to
improve service delivery and to look at curriculum needs of the new graduating students of the
profession. The study reviews literature available regarding the scope of audiology practise, and the
challenges faced by adult clients acquiring hearing amplification.
The aim of the study was to describe the current practice of audiologists who counsel adult clients
who require amplification by focusing on the nature and scope of services offered and the perceptions
of factors affecting practice within the South African context.
An online descriptive survey was selected as the research design. Information was gathered on the
educational and clinical background, current practise, skills and challenges audiologists faced in
dealing with the complex task of counseling adult clients with acquired hearing loss. The study
sample consisted of 152 participants of which 148 (97%) were female and 4 (3%) were male. All
practitioners were registered with either of the two professional audiology associations, the South
African Association of Audiologists (SAAA) and the South African Speech Language and Hearing
Association (SASLHA). The majority of participants were qualified as Speech Therapists and
Audiologists, and worked in the private sector.
The results revealed that Audiologists spend more time on informational counseling than rational
acceptance or adjustment counseling. They also reported more time spent on counseling the client
only rather than the client and significant other. The majority spent up to 15 minutes on counseling,
and tended to offer counseling mostly after audiological evaluation and during hearing aid fitting and
evaluation. Even though audiologists rated their skills in counseling high, especially for
informational counseling and adjustment counseling, the majority of the participants indicated the
need to improve their counseling skills to serve adult clients who need hearing aids.
The results have valuable clinical implications for the rendering of adult rehabilitative audiological
services in South Africa by incorporating more focus on counseling within the curricula of audiology
training and by offering courses to qualified professionals to increase knowledge and skills in the area
of counseling. Another implication is the need for supervision during clinical training of audiology
students in order to develop skills in informational, rational acceptance and adjustment counseling.
Description
Master of Communication Pathology in Audiology. in University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville 2014.
Keywords
Hearing impaired--Counseling of., Audiologist and patient--South Africa., Hearing impaired--Rehabilitation--South Africa., Deaf--Rehabilitation--South Africa., Audiologists--South Africa., Theses--Communication pathology (Audiology)., Adult rehabilitative audiology.