As part of her PhD, Wendy Andrusjak has been trying to understand how hearing and vision loss are identified and managed in care homes. A recent scoping review on the topic was recently published in the Gerontologist.
A lay summary can be read here:
This scoping review identifies the main factors that influence the identification and management of hearing and vision loss in older care home residents. After scoping databases, internet sites and other sources including contacting relevant professionals in the area, we have identified six factors associated with how effectively hearing and vision loss are cared for in older people residing in care homes.
Practices such as screening tools and professional audiologists, optometrists and General Practitioners were found to influence how effectively hearing and vision loss were identified in the care home residents. In addition, the care of hearing aids and glasses and accessibility to other assistive aids, the alterations made to the environment, and staff knowledge all influenced how well hearing and vision loss were managed and compensated for. Another factor included resident’s cognition, whereby dementia was shown to especially impact on how effectively hearing and vision loss is identified and managed in people living with the condition.
These six factors highlight that to improve the way hearing and vision is identified and managed in this population is multi-factorial, and that to improve practice requires further insight in how to implement these factors in the home.
The full article can be viewed here:
Wendy Andrusjak, Ana Barbosa, Gail Mountain, Identifying and Managing Hearing and Vision Loss in Older People in Care Homes: A Scoping Review of the Evidence, The Gerontologist, https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnz087
For more information about the study, please contact:
W.Andrusjak@bradford.ac.uk