Robyn Cox, Ph.D., is a Professor at the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Memphis, where she directs the Hearing Aid Research Lab. The Lab focuses on the measurement and prediction of hearing aid outcomes and the development of hearing aid fitting tests and protocols. She has been on the faculty at the University of Memphis since 1977. She and her colleagues have been instrumental in the development of several frequently used outcome measures for clinical and research applications. Cox has agreed to bring us up-to-date with self-report outcome measures in this issue of Innovations.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> IN (Innovations): Let’s start with a very basic question. RC:
What are self-report measures, and why have they gained popularity in use with hearing aid outcomes?
RC: (Robyn Cox): Self-report measures are just
questionnaires. We generate questions or items, and the patient supplies the answers. We use two kinds of self-report measures. The most common ones have a fixed set of questions which all respondents answer by choosing one of a predetermined list of responses. These are called standardized questionnaires. The other, less common type of questionnaire is one where the patient actually provides the questions/items as well as the answers. These are called non-standardized, or patient-centered, questionnaires. The International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA) is an example of a standardized questionnaire. The Client Oriented Scale of Improvement (COSI) is the most popular example of a non-standardized questionnaire. Both types have pros and cons.
Probably several reasons. For one, the entire healthcare enterprise has moved substantially away from the paternalistic model where the professional decides what treatment to give and how well it worked. We are now very much in a collaborative and patient-centered mode where the best treatment is decided jointly by the patient and the professional, and the result of the treatment is decided largely by the patient. In other words, we admit that we have not really helped our patients unless they feel that at least some of their daily life problems have
IN:
Self-report measures have become increasingly popular over the past 20 years as another way of assessing the outcomes (advantages and disadvantages) of hearing aid fittings. Why has this happened? Blog.StarkeyInnovations.com
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