New Study Looks at Use of Ida Tools in Motivational Engagement

By Amanda Farah Cox

A recent study out of Nottingham, UK looked at the feasibility of implementing Ida tools as part of patient motivational engagement. The study, “Motivational engagement in first-time hearing aids users: A feasibility study,” used the Motivation Tools with persons with hearing loss to assess their readiness to take action, which included using hearing aids, and followed the patient journey through a 10-week follow-up after the fitting. The study looked at how persons with hearing loss were impacted by the use of motivational engagement at the time they decided to adopt hearing aids, the hearing aid fitting, and in the follow-up appointments.

The study determined that “it was feasible to implement motivational tools into clinical practice with appropriate training, and the feedback and reflections from audiologists of the use of the tools in clinical practice was very positive.”

The study, authored by Ida Advisory Board Member Melanie Ferguson, David Maidment, Naomi Russell, Richard Nicholson, and Ida Senior Audiologist Melanie Gregory, required the use of the Line and the Circle with each PHL. The Box was used with PHLs who showed ambivalence. Melanie Gregory and Ida Senior Anthropologist Hans Henrik Philipsen trained two audiologists at Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Unit on how to use the Motivation tools over a three-day workshop. The audiologists’ practice sessions were filmed for them to review and reflect on with the Ida team.

In total, 27 PHLs were involved in the research group and 25 in the control group. By the time of their fitting appointment, 89.9% of PHLs who had the Motivation Tools used with them had moved from the preparation stage to the action stage. 100% of this group felt “very confident” in the action stage, versus only 59% of the control group. According to the study, “this suggests that motivational engagement may have improved self-efficacy in terms of confidence to follow the recommendations of the audiologist after the initial assessment appointment.”

The study found that the group using the Motivation tools “had greater self-efficacy and reduced anxiety levels compared to” the control group at their hearing assessments. They also responded “more positively” to survey questions regarding their treatment during their HA fittings, suggesting “higher levels of shared decision-making.”

As the PHLs who participated in the study had already opted for hearing aids, the researchers recommend future studies into the feasibility of using the tools as part of the decision-making process.

The study also notes, however, that there were “no significant differences” between the groups for any of the outcomes measures, which suggests that motivational engagement is most important at the initial appointments rather than in long-term follow ups. Thus the researchers recommend combining motivational engagement and qualitative methods in future work with regard to longer term follow-ups.

You can read the study in full here.