Showing papers by "Anthony Hogan published in 2002"

Measuring disability-specific patient benefit in cochlear implant programs: developing a short form of the Glasgow Health Status Inventory, the Hearing Participation Scale.

Abstract: As healthcare resources are limited, evidence of program effectiveness is necessary. To demonstrate this, measurement should be conducted at the specific illness level, the generic health status level, and the utility level. Instruments need to be parsimonious to avoid cognitive overload, response burden, or participation refusal. Critical analysis of the Glasgow Hearing Status Inventory (GHSI) suggested that several items were redundant and the instrument could be shortened. We administered the GHSI and Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) instruments to 148 deafened adults with cochlear implants (CIs) and to 54 without CIs, as part of a cross-sectional study. We used standard psychometric procedures to examine the GHSI's structure, resulting in the removal of half of the items. The short version of the GHSI we labeled the Hearing Participation Scale (HPS), to avoid confusion with the GHSI. The HPS is an 11-item instrument measuring self-esteem, social handicap, and hearing handicap. Factor analysis suggested that each subscale was unidimensional. All items loaded on the principal component. Correlation with the GHSI was 0.95, suggesting that the two instruments could be used interchangeably. Both the HPS and the GHSI pro-vided evidence of monotonicity when used to predict AQoL scores. They were equally sensitive at differentiating between implantees and non-implantees. Although these findings need to be confirmed, the HPS is ready to be used in studies of interventions for deafness. At a time when evaluators are being asked for evidence of program effect, the parsimonious HPS achieves similar results to the GHS but requires half the items.

It's a whole new ball game! Employment experiences of people with a cochlear implant.

Abstract: Many implantees anecdotally report employment benefits being associated with implantation. This benefit has not been routinely reported in prospective studies of implant outcomes. It is important therefore to establish the nature of benefit reported by implantees so that further studies may document such outcomes in a representative fashion. To this end, a qualitative study of the experiences of 12 people with cochlear implants in the workplace is presented. A focus group methodology was used to collect the data. Patients use a before and after narrative style to relate the impact of the device on their working lives. Prior to implantation, deafened adults report being on the margins of the workplace, mostly concerned with holding on to a job that was quite difficult to obtain in the first place. Under-employment (working below their ability levels) was a key issue. Following implantation, working life was markedly better. Implantees report being able to pursue the jobs they were trained for with ...