Recognizing Emotional Challenges of Hearing Loss

information), they need to engage clients in communication aimed at identifying underlying issues that influence client behavior. Unfortunately, research shows that audiologists may not be sufficiently focused on understanding client challenges that are related to psychosocial factors; instead, they prefer to focus on challenges that are technical in nature (AJA. 2014;23[3]:337; Ear Hear. 2015;36[2]:191). Paying attention to communication with the purpose of developing an effective therapeutic relationship has been shown to have significant positive effects on client adherence to treatment recommendations (Med Care. 2010;47[8]:826). Client involvement in their care through shared decision making, discussion about their concerns, and exploration of how to navigate challenges can decrease misunderstandings and help clients effectively integrate new habits into their routines for more successful outcomes. Achieving an effective therapeutic alliance includes acknowledging and engaging pertinent emotions such as depression and anxiety. Including a screening instrument may be an effective way to determine when clients are struggling with depression, anxiety, and/or stress. Our study was conducted to find out how clients felt about completing a screening and how audiologists felt about performing the screening. H earing loss is a common condition. However, many adults who could benefit from amplification do not use their hearing aids even though it could help them overcome negative consequences, such as social withdrawal, loneliness, and depression. Equally concerning, hearing aid use is highly variable among young children (LSHSS. 2013;44[1]:73; JAAA. 2014;25[4]:380), compromising speech and language development outcomes (Ear Hear. 2015;36:76S). How clients are coping with emotional challenges may be a contributing factor to hearing aid usage; such challenges may go undetected by audiologists. Depression and anxiety are common mental health conditions (Int J Methods Psychiar Res. 2012;21[3]:169) and can interfere with effective health care management and treatment adherence; for example, when parents of children with hearing loss were experiencing symptoms of depression, their children wore hearing aids fewer hours per day than those with no depression (Ear Hear. 2016;37[6]:703). Stress can also impact the physical and emotional well-being of clients with hearing loss and caregivers, and may its impact be positively influenced by social support (J Health Soc Beh. 2010;51[1suppl]:S41).