scholarly journals A Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Benefits of a Multimedia Educational Program for First-Time Hearing Aid Users

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Ferguson ◽  
Marian Brandreth ◽  
William Brassington ◽  
Paul Leighton ◽  
Heather Wharrad
2021 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 233121652096947
Author(s):  
Afzarini H. Ismail ◽  
Kevin J. Munro ◽  
Christopher J. Armitage ◽  
Antonia Marsden ◽  
Piers D. Dawes

Suboptimal hearing aid use negatively impacts health and well-being. The aim of this study was to conduct a controlled trial of a behavior change intervention to promote hearing aid use. This study was a quasi-randomized controlled trial with two arms. A total of 160 first-time hearing aid users were recruited at their hearing aid fitting appointments. The control arm received standard care. In addition to standard care, the intervention arm received I-PLAN, which comprised (a) information about the consequences of hearing aid use/nonuse, (b) reminder prompt to use the hearing aids, and (c) an action plan. The primary outcome, measured at 6 weeks, was self-reported proportion of time the hearing aid was used in situations that caused hearing difficulty. Secondary outcomes were data-logged hearing aid use, self-reported hearing aid benefit, self-regulation, and habit formation. The results showed that the proportion of time the hearing aids were used in situations that caused hearing difficulty was similar in both groups. There were no statistically significant differences between groups in any outcome measure including data-logged hearing aid use. The relatively high levels of hearing aid use across research participants may have limited the potential for the intervention to impact on hearing aid use. Although the intervention materials proved acceptable and deliverable, future intervention trials should target suboptimal hearing aid users.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoo Fujii ◽  
Manako Hanya ◽  
Kenta Murotani ◽  
Hiroyuki Kamei

Abstract Background Stigma associated with mental disorders is rooted among many pharmacists, and represents a major barrier to patient support in community-based psychiatry. We developed an assessment scale that is specifically designed to assess the level of stigma that pharmacists may have toward schizophrenia, and then examined the effects of reducing stigma with an educational program that focuses on communication with patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (PDS) using the newly developed Stigma Scale towards Schizophrenia for Community Pharmacists (SSCP). Methods SSCP was developed by exploratory factor analysis with promax rotation based on responses from 822 randomly selected community pharmacists. Furthermore, a randomized controlled trial was conducted for 115 community pharmacists to clarify the effects of reducing the stigma of schizophrenia using an educational program for them with a focus on communication with PDS. Participants were individually allocated to two groups: educational lecture group (56; only attending a lecture on schizophrenia) or contact-based intervention group (59; communicating with PDS and attending the lecture). The stigma assessment using SSCP was conducted immediately before and after the educational intervention. Results A total of 4 factors and 27 items were extracted from the exploratory factor analysis to comprise the SSCP. Cronbach’s α of SSCP, social distance at professional pharmacy service (factor I), attitudes towards PDS (factor II), self-disclosure (factor III), and social distance in personal (factor IV) were 0.89, 0.88, 0.76, 0.62, and 0.62, respectively. Educational program-related changes of the median (interquartile range) total SSCP score from baseline were − 9.0 (− 16.0 – − 5.0) in the contact-based intervention group and − 3.0 (− 7.0–1.0) in the educational lecture group, reflecting a significant reduction of stigma levels in the contact-based intervention group. On examining the SSCP subscales, scores for factor I and factor II significantly improved. The educational program was more effective for pharmacists aged 20–39 years or with negligible experience of communicating with PDS at work and/or in private life. Conclusions SSCP and the educational program for community pharmacists that focuses on communication with PDS were useful for assessing and reducing, respectively, the stigma attached by these pharmacists to schizophrenia. Trial registration UMIN Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN000043189, registered on January 30, 2021), Retrospectively registered.


2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-147
Author(s):  
Kristine L. Cece ◽  
Jane E. Chargot ◽  
Micheleen Hashikawa ◽  
Melissa A. Plegue ◽  
Katherine J. Gold

Background and Objectives: While video discharge instructions have been shown to improve retention of information and patient satisfaction, data are limited regarding patient perceptions of video tools. Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess self-rated comprehension and overall satisfaction with video versus face-to-face neonatal discharge instructions in first-time mothers. Results: Video instructions were no different from face-to-face instructions, though there was a nonsignificant increase in confidence in caring for their newborn in the video group. Conclusions: Broader use of technology may allow for a more standardized approach to patient education and improve efficiency for clinicians, without compromising patient satisfaction and confidence in caring for themselves and their dependents.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Drain ◽  
Kenneth Ngure ◽  
Nelly Mugo ◽  
Matthew Spinelli ◽  
Purba Chatterjee ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND The worldwide expansion of preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with oral tenofovir-disoproxil-fumarate/emtricitabine will be critical to ending the HIV epidemic. However, maintaining daily adherence to PrEP can be difficult, and the accuracy of self-reported adherence is often limited by social desirability bias. Pharmacologic adherence monitoring (measuring drug levels in a biomatrix) has been critical to interpreting PrEP trials, but testing usually requires expensive equipment and skilled personnel. We have recently developed a point-of-care (POC) immunoassay to measure tenofovir in urine, allowing real-time adherence monitoring for the first time. OBJECTIVE The goal of this study is to examine a point-of-care adherence metric in PrEP to support and increase adherence via a randomized controlled trial. METHODS The paper describes the protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial to test the acceptability, feasibility, and impact on long-term adherence of implementing a POC urine test to provide real-time adherence feedback among women on PrEP. Eligible women (n=100) will be HIV-negative, ≥18 years old, and recruited from a clinic in Kenya that provides PrEP. Participants will be randomized 1:1 to the intervention of providing real-time feedback via the assay versus standard of care adherence counseling. Acceptability by participants will be assessed by a quantitative survey, as well as by qualitative data collected via in-depth interviews (n=20) and focus group discussions (n=4 groups, 5-10 women each). Feasibility will be assessed by the proportion of women retained in the study, the mean number of missed visits, the proportion of planned urine assessments completed, and messages delivered, while in-depth interviews with providers (n=8) will explore the ease of administering the urine test. Tenofovir levels in hair will serve as long-term adherence metrics. A linear mixed-effects model will estimate the effect of the intervention versus standard of care on logarithmically transformed levels of tenofovir in hair. RESULTS This study has been funded by the National Institute of Health, approved by the Kenya Medical Research Institute Institutional Review Board, and will commence in June 2020. CONCLUSIONS A novel urine assay to measure and deliver information on adherence to PrEP in real-time will be tested for the first time in this trial planned among women on PrEP in Kenya. Study findings will inform a larger-scale trial assessing the impact of real-time adherence monitoring/feedback on HIV prevention. Improving adherence to PrEP will have long-term implications for efforts to end the HIV epidemic worldwide. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03935464; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03935464 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT PRR1-10.2196/15029


2019 ◽  
Vol 114 (1) ◽  
pp. S1581-S1581
Author(s):  
Siwar Albashir ◽  
Pamela Durepos ◽  
Natalia S. Causada-Calo ◽  
Ramandeep S. Mangat ◽  
Matilda E. Nowakowski ◽  
...  

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