Objectives: Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent conditions affecting older people. In addition, there is little known about the factors influencing the uptake of hearing services among underserved communities. Our objective was to identify the barriers to accessing hearing care services among older Pacific Island people in New Zealand.

Settings: Eligible participants from Auckland City, New Zealand.

Participants: Individual face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted with 36 older Pacific Island people who were experienced hearing difficulties.

Methods: A Pacific Island research methodology () and the 'Health Care Access Barriers' (HCAB) model, which identifies modifiable barriers to healthcare, was used as a theoretical framework for this research. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using a deductive approach to identify HCAB themes and subthemes experienced by older Pacific Island people.

Results: Identified themes aligned with HCAB's themes of financial, structural and cognitive barriers and subthemes described Pacific Island perspectives related to hearing care access in New Zealand. The financial barriers related to the high cost of hearing care and the structural barriers included transportation difficulties, limited family support, preference for community-based services and the absence of hearing care delivered by family doctors. Community norms and attitudes, communication limitations and limited awareness of hearing care services formed cognitive barriers among older Pasifika people in this study.

Conclusion: We identified financial, structural and cognitive barriers that dissuaded older Pasifika people from accessing hearing care services. These modifiable barriers need to be eliminated or minimised to enable people to readily receive the hearing care assistance they need. It is essential to improve and develop culturally responsive models of hearing service delivery to ensure equitable access to hearing care, especially for underserved groups such as Pacific Island communities.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6686997PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-029007DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

hearing care
36
pacific island
28
older pacific
16
care access
12
island people
12
hearing
12
care services
12
cognitive barriers
12
care
10
barriers
9

Similar Publications

Purpose: People with sensory impairments (SI) face unique challenges in out-of-home care, especially in oral health (OH) care, compared to the general population. Various assistive technologies (ATs) and media are used to influence OH behaviors and outcomes for individuals with SI. This systematic review (SR) aimed to identify the types of ATs and assess their effectiveness for individuals with SI.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: The purpose of this cross-sectional analysis is to compare the degree to which adolescents and adults with and without impairments in the US engage in illicit drug use.

Methods: This cross-sectional study utilized data from the 2022 National Survey of Drug Use and Health. Impairment status (mobility, cognitive, hearing, vision, self-care, and communication impairments), illicit drug use (cocaine, crack, heroin, hallucinogens, LSD, ecstasy and molly, inhalants, and methamphetamine), and demographic variables were measured using self-report.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Speech-in-noise hearing impairment is associated with increased risk of Parkinson's: A UK biobank analysis.

Parkinsonism Relat Disord

November 2024

Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, UK; Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness, The University of Manchester, UK.

Background: Hearing impairment is implicated as a risk factor for Parkinson's disease (Parkinson's) incidence, with evidence suggesting that clinically diagnosed hearing loss increases Parkinson's risk 1.5-1.6 fold over 2-5 years follow up.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the potential association of perioperative hearing outcomes with frailty by Modified 5-Item Frailty Index (mFI-5).

Design: Retrospective cross-sectional study.

Setting: Single-institutional study conducted at a tertiary care hospital between January 2018 and January 2022.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective We aimed to highlight problems faced by parents of infants diagnosed with hearing impairment upon newborn hearing screening (NHS) and to suggest how support might be improved. Methods We distributed a questionnaire to explore difficulties encountered by parents when seeking support, whether they were satisfied with the support, and their unmet needs. We enrolled 101 parents of infants with hearing impairments diagnosed upon NHS (hearing levels: 7.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!