Online resource center for older adults with cochlear implants

Kdh Research And Communication, Inc., Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

In this Phase I proposal resubmission, KDH Research & Communication (KDHRC) proposes to develop and evaluate the Online Resource Center for Older Adults with Cochlear Implants (RCCI). RCCI will be an innovative web-based resource center for older adults (aged 65+) with cochlear implants (CIs), and their family members, for age-related hearing loss. RCCI will provide high-quality information and practical skills-building resources to prepare and provide on-going support for older adults to optimally benefit from their CIs. Challenges in real-world settings can lead CI users to avoid social situations or stop using their CIs. Experts routinely note a need for more comprehensive, on-going supports, and although older adults with CIs want and need support, they face numerous barriers, including time, financial, and locational constraints, to access postimplantation support services. In-person support services may be intermittent or lacking due to limited therapist availability in remote or rural locations and inadequate insurance among poor, minority, and inner- city populations. Even for insured older adults, insurance for postimplantation support services may only cover only weekly sessions for 2-3 months or a set number of sessions (e.g., 6-10). Thus, there is a substantial and growing need for alternative sources of ongoing postimplantation support for older adults that are low cost, widely available, and evidence based. This unmet need presents a tremendous opportunity for easily-accessed web-based services like RCCI, which is well positioned to overcome the many challenges to delivering services in-person. RCCI targets older adults to increase their knowledge, self-efficacy, and skills to maintain their CIs, improve their communication strategies, manage challenging physical and social hearing environments, and develop self-advocacy skills. When finished, RCCI will consist of a website with static and interactive content providing easy-to-use, shareable resources for older adults and their family members. In Phase I, we will develop and test RCCI?s prototype, a website characterized by full static content and limited interactivity. At the end of this project, we will have a functioning prototype and feasibility data, which will test the extent which (1) exposure to RCCI leads to significant and positive changes among older adults in knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and intentions to optimally benefit from their CIs in comparison to a control; and (2) exposure to RCCI leads to significant and positive changes among family members in knowledge, self-efficacy, and intentions to support older adults with CIs comparison to a control. The information gained through the RCCI evaluation will contribute to a field lacking evidence-based, non- clinical interventions to support older adults to optimally use and benefit from their CIs. Further, RCCI will contribute to the literature on web-based health interventions for older adults, ongoing education programs for older adults with CIs, and how older adults use CIs in real-world settings.