Parents' informational needs for children with UHL
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An investigation into parents’ informational needs regarding intervention options for children with unilateral hearing loss. A pilot study.
IRAS ID
264588
Contact name
Scott Richards
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Aston University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 30 days
Research summary
There is currently no evidence-based guidance for the management of children diagnosed with a unilateral hearing loss (a hearing loss in one ear only); which affects approximately 3-6% of school-aged children.
Shared-decision making is where healthcare professionals and patients work together to come to a decision about treatment or management options. This not only considers the evidence for each treatment but also the patients’ preferences. Patient decision aids are tools that assist patients in understanding their treatment options and help them to make preference-informed decisions about their care. The first step in designing a patient decision aid is to assess patients’ decisional needs, including their informational needs. This study aims to identify parents’ informational needs regarding different intervention options for their child with unilateral hearing loss.
The researcher will interview parents of children with a unilateral hearing loss that are under the care of the host department. The interviews will be semi-structured in nature, using open questions to allow the participants to express their thoughts and opinions in their own words. Interviews will take place at a convenient location for the participant, either within the Audiology Department at the host department or at the participants home. Interviews will last between 30-60 minutes and will be audio-recorded. They will then be transcribed and the researcher will employ qualitative analysis to identify codes and themes within the data.
The researcher aims for the information gained from this study to inform the development of a patient decision aid for children with unilateral hearing loss in the future. This will assist parents in the decision-making process, allow for better quality shared-decision making and will aid in standardising care across this population. This study is being sponsored by Aston University as part of a student project towards an MSc thesis.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Sheffield Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/YH/0327
Date of REC Opinion
8 Oct 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion