Outcome Measures in Audiology Rehabilitation - Essay Example

Outcome Measures In Audiology Rehabilitation Task Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 5 Outcome/outcome measure 5 Reason for measuring outcome 5 How outcomes measures can be used 6 Literature Review 7 Selecting best fit outcome measure 7 Fundamentals of a good tool 7 Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly (HHIE) 10 Principles behind its design and development 10 Clinical question (s) the test/ scale is designed to address 11 Evaluation of the test/scale 11 Administration of the test/scale 11 Interpretation of the test/scale results 12 How it has been/ is used in clinical practice/ and or research 12 Client Oriented Scale of Improvement (COSI) 13 Principles behind its design and development 13 Clinical question (s) the test/ scale is designed to address 13 Evaluation of the test/scale 13 Administration of the test/scale 13 Interpretation of the test/scale results 13 How it has been/ is used in clinical practice/ and or research 14 International Outcomes Inventory – Hearing Aids (IOI- HA) 14 Principles behind its design and development 14 Clinical question (s) the test/ scale is designed to address 14 Evaluation of the test/scale 14 Administration of the test/scale 15 Interpretation of the test/scale results 15 How it has been/ is used in clinical practice/ and or research 15 Discussion 16 References 17 Appendixes 21 Appendix A- The IOI-HA scale 21 Appendix B- Screening Version of the HHIE-S 22 Appendix C- COSI (Valente, Hosford-Dunn & Roeser, 2008). 24 Appendix D- Overview/Summary 24 HHIE 24 Key Words: Tools, outcome, Handicap inventory for the elderly (HHIE), Client Oriented Scale of Improvement (COSI), International Outcomes Inventory-Hearing Aids (IOI-HA), Introduction Outcome/outcome measure An outcome connotes a measurable effect that may be real or even perceived regarding to an intervention to a person’s disability. Therefore, an outcome is a consequence of an intervention; it is rather a reference to a characteristic being investigated for instance, a treatment goal or even a gauge of one’s progression during rehabilitation, or even a gauge of impacts of care on one’s health status (Taylor, 2007). It is prudent noting that an outcome could be positive or even negative regarding to an intervention; basically, this is to imply that an outcome may culminate to an increase or reduction in one’s handicap. An outcome measure thus becomes the interface that lies in between goals set forth by a professional in rehabilitation and the response given by a client in a clinical procedure. Outcome measures can be put as being objective or subjective. An example of an objective outcome would be word recognition whereas self reports fall under subjective category. The choice of an outcome measure thus constitutes what a professional perceives as the goal of a particular intervention on a certain patient. Reason for measuring outcome Outcome measure is carried out with the intent of establishing the effects of a certain intervention on a patient (Hull, 2001). Therefore, outcome measure is basically a question of degree of clinical effectiveness. How outcomes measures can be used Usages of self-report measures are beneficial in that they act as facilitation to hearing aid fittings for an individual. They also can be used to assess the efficacy of fittings administered on an individual or even efficiency of an institution. Moreover, such measures remain very crucial in clinical decisions. Literature Review Selecting best fit outcome measure During selection of an outcome measure, various consideration fall into place. For instance, Prioritize goals − It is best for one to become specific on what they are measuring. Appreciate fundamentals ­­− these can be either practical or even technical. Practical considerations involve such things as considering the burden that comes with administering a certain measure both to the patient as well as the clinician administering it. The technical considerations involve such things as reliability, validity as well as norms attached to an outcome measure (McClimans & Browne, 2011). Specify fundamental feature − On the same light, it becomes essential to identify or rather scrutinize keenly on the outcome features that one requires in order to achieve a certain goal. Limit the choices ­­ − Owing to features that someone identifies, reviewing of the present measures follows in a bid to check whether they have these features (Alexander, 2008). Select the best compromise − At this juncture one reviews options at their disposal to come up with one that is best suited to administer on a patient for the attainment of the set goals. Fundamentals of a good tool A good tool is determined by the presence of various properties, which, if absent, render the outcome measure defective or rather impaired. These include, Succinct definition of purpose − this is to imply that a good tool must be clear as to the purpose it is designed to achieve. Such a purpose needs to be clearly and out rightly stated in the tool and not vaguely. Target population − A certain instrument should be unambiguous when it comes to a target population, and this should have certain things accompanying the selection of such a population, for instance, demographic details like age or gender. Conceptual frame work − the designed tool should have a specified frame-work, for instance, one by WHO that constitutes a classification of disabilities or impairments. Reliability and Validity Reliability of a tool falls under the categories of internal consistency with regards to scale items and secondly, tests retest (Heffner, 2001). Internal consistency is the capability of an item to measure similar aspects contained in a domain with utmost consistency (Bentler & Kramer, 2000). When the symbol alpha connotes a zero, 0, this implies that there exists no correlation between the items. A score of 1 subsequently connotes perfect correlation. Test retest basically refers to the extent to which scores obtained by the administration of a certain instrument correlate with scores in a second instance of its administration. During this second time, each score becomes a true value i.e. R (0 Read More