澳大利亚、加拿大、英国和美国受访老年人对听力保健信息和服务偏好的描述

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中文摘要

背景： 年龄相关性听力损失是一个全球公共卫生问题，然而听力保健（HHC）服务仍未得到充分利用。了解老年人的HHC经历对于解决现有系统为何未被充分利用至关重要。因此，我们调查了老年人以确定他们对HHC服务提供的偏好。在这项横断面调查研究中，我们报告了他们偏好在哪里获取HHC信息、进行听力测试和获取听力设备。我们还检查了这些偏好是否因听力损失程度、求助经历、调查方式（在线或面对面）、年龄或国家而异。
方法： 使用与消费者共同创建的调查问题，在大流行前（2016-2018年）在美国（USA）、加拿大（CAN）、澳大利亚（AUS）和英国（EN）在线和面对面收集了回复。第三方公司从每个地区招募了便利样本。年龄在60岁及以上且英语熟练的参与者回答了三个问题：“您更愿意在哪里获取关于HHC的信息？”（8,151名受访者，14个回复选项）、“您最想在哪里进行听力测试？”（8,035名受访者，8个选项）和“如果您需要，您最想从以下哪些地方获得助听器（或其他类型的听力设备）？”（8,151名受访者，11个选项）。参与者可以选择多个选项。听力阈值从面对面受访者获得，并用于估算在线受访者的听力损失。
结果： 在所有问题中，受访者在寻求HHC信息、听力测试和听力设备时，一致偏好传统医疗场所而非非医疗场所。受访者一致报告偏好面对面寻求HHC，在提供者介导的医疗环境（例如医生和听力学家办公室以及医院）而非通过非医疗渠道如广播、互联网广告或零售店。偏好在不同听力损失程度、调查方式、年龄组和国家之间保持一致。
结论： 我们的调查结果表明，老年人偏好通过传统医疗环境寻求和接受HHC。这些数据是在大流行前和一些近期OTC政策变化之前收集的；尽管如此，它们与更近期的发现一致，并捕捉了可能今天仍在做出HHC决定的个人的态度。因此，这些发现提供了关于老年人报告偏好的背景证据，未来听力保健偏好研究可以与之比较。

英文摘要

BACKGROUND: Age-related hearing loss is a global public health concern and yet hearing health care (HHC) services remain underutilized. Understanding the HHC experiences of older adults is essential to addressing why existing systems are underutilized. Therefore, we surveyed older adults to determine their preferences for HHC service delivery. In this cross-sectional survey study, we report where they preferred to obtain HHC information, undergo hearing tests, and acquire hearing devices. We also examined whether these preferences varied by degree of hearing loss, help-seeking experience, survey mode (online or in person), age, or country.
METHODS: Using survey questions that were co-created with consumers, responses were collected online and in person prior to the pandemic (2016-2018) in the United States (USA), Canada (CAN), Australia (AUS), and England (EN). Third-party firms recruited convenience samples from each region. Participants, aged 60 + and proficient in English, responded to three questions: "Where would you prefer to get information about HHC?" (8,151 respondents, 14 response options), "Where would you most like to get your hearing tested?" (8,035 respondents, 8 options), and "From which of the following places would you MOST like to get hearing aids (or other types of hearing devices) if you needed them?" (8,151 respondents, 11 options). Participants could select multiple options. Hearing thresholds were obtained from in-person respondents and used to impute hearing loss estimates for online respondents.
RESULTS: Across all questions, respondents consistently preferred traditional medical over nonmedical locations when seeking HHC information, hearing tests, and hearing devices. Respondents consistently reported a preference for seeking HHC in-person, at provider-mediated medical settings (e.g., doctors' and audiologists' offices and hospitals) rather than through non-medical channels such as radio, internet advertisements, or retail stores. Preferences were consistent across degrees of hearing loss, survey modes, age bands, and countries.
CONCLUSIONS: Our survey results indicate that older adults preferred to seek and receive HHC through traditional medical settings. These data were collected prior to the pandemic and before some of the recent OTC policy changes; nonetheless, they align with more recent findings and capture the attitudes of individuals who are likely still making HHC decisions today. These findings, therefore, provide contextual evidence about older adults' reported preferences against which future studies of hearing healthcare preferences may be compared.