Project Summary
Background: Hispanic/Latinx Americans (hereafter Latinx) are an underserved and under-researched population for treatment of age-related hearing loss. PCORI’s 2019 call for proposals seeks new evidence to address decisional dilemmas with hearing interventions and patient-centered outcomes. It is important to engage multiple types of stakeholders now because of a 2017 federal law creating over-the-counter (OTC) hearing devices that increases treatment options for mild to moderate hearing loss.
Proposed Solution to the Problem: This proposed effort seeks to support, engage, and mobilize Latinx patients as stakeholders, asking: How can comparative effectiveness research on hearing interventions be designed to be maximally useful to Latinx patients with age-related hearing loss, their families, and healthcare providers/clinicians? This type of engagement will provide the broader research community with diverse perspectives on the topic that may not have been taken into consideration in traditional research approaches. The project team will build on its previous engagement of patients in Arizona to create a more diverse base of Latinx communities across sociocultural backgrounds and countries of origin by partnering with relevant stakeholders in Florida. The team will also consult with their families/caregivers, community health workers/promotores (CHWs), audiologists, and primary care medical homes.
Project Objectives:
- With the help of CHWs, the team will communicate with patients and health center staff about how to effectively use patient-centered outcomes research and comparative effectiveness research to address disparities and evidence gaps.
- Collaboratively define areas of concern, local issues, research priorities, educational needs, and information relevant to patient-centered research partnerships.
- Engage stakeholders in identifying needs and strengths of Latinx communities in Arizona and Florida to manage age-related hearing loss.
- Collaboratively develop a research agenda and dissemination resources, including summary reports, social media, and bilingual factsheets.
Activities: All project activities will use a community-engaged framework in order to build capacity to guide patient-centered comparative effectiveness research that improves access to hearing health care for diverse populations, specifically Latinx adults.
Project Outcomes:
- Short term (first six months): Contract setup and development of the stakeholder advisory board; formalizing the coalition.
- Medium term (Y1): Hold four townhall sessions, co-develop patient survey/focus group questions with members of the stakeholder advisory board.
- Long term (Y2): Conduct and gather results of patient survey and/or focus groups on patient needs and priorities related to new OTC hearing devices; hold a workshop with additional experts and members of audiology organizations to coincide with a national professional conference; development of a State of Access/Research Agenda Report.
Project Collaborators will include the University of Arizona, University of Miami, Mariposa Community Health Center, and San Juan Bosco Clinic.
COVID-19-Related Project
Summary
Social distancing, mask wearing, and the shift to telehealth during the pandemic present increased communication challenges for people living with hearing loss. The project enhancement focuses on working with stakeholder groups representing and serving vulnerable populations (e.g., Hispanics/Latinx, older adults, families affected by communication disability, limited English proficiency populations, and healthcare workers in safety net clinics) to respond to new communication challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The enhancement specifically will:
- Create training materials/resources on communication for community health workers (CHWs) and patient-centered infographics;
- Host trainings for CHWs; and
- Disseminate materials in English and Spanish that can be delivered flexibly and inform socially distanced engagement
Enhancement Award Amount: $118,747
Engagement Resources
More to Explore...
Project Resource: First Stakeholder Advisory Board Meeting Presentation – English & Spanish
Project Resource: Second Stakeholder Advisory Board Meeting Presentation – English & Spanish
Project Resource: Hispanic Hearing Healthcare Access Coalition Issue Brief – English
Project Resource: Hispanic Hearing Healthcare Access Coalition Issue Brief – Spanish
COVID-19 Enhancement Video: Spanish-language hearing loss simulation demonstration of communication during COVID-19 with wearing masks
Video: Arizona Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ArSHA) Poster Presentation
Project Resource: Town Hall Summary Report and Agendas
Project Resource:UAZ Coalition Lessons Learned
Project Resource: UAZ Coalition Summary Report