Cargando…

Impact of Hearing Aids on Poverty, Quality of Life and Mental Health in Guatemala: Results of a before and after Study

There are 466 million people globally with disabling hearing loss, many of whom can benefit from hearing aids. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of providing hearing aids on poverty, mental health, quality of life, and activities, among adults in Guatemala. A nonrandomised before and aft...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Spreckley, Mark, Macleod, David, González Trampe, Brenda, Smith, Andrew, Kuper, Hannah
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7277678/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32429252
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103470
_version_ 1783543174172508160
author Spreckley, Mark
Macleod, David
González Trampe, Brenda
Smith, Andrew
Kuper, Hannah
author_facet Spreckley, Mark
Macleod, David
González Trampe, Brenda
Smith, Andrew
Kuper, Hannah
author_sort Spreckley, Mark
collection PubMed
description There are 466 million people globally with disabling hearing loss, many of whom can benefit from hearing aids. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of providing hearing aids on poverty, mental health, quality of life, and activities, among adults in Guatemala. A nonrandomised before and after study was conducted, with a comparison group to assess for secular trends. Adult cases with bilateral hearing impairment were identified within 150 km of Guatemala City, as well as age- and sex-matched comparison subjects without disabling hearing loss. All participants were interviewed with a semistructured questionnaire, and cases were offered hearing aids. Participants were reinterviewed 6–9 months later. We interviewed 135 cases and 89 comparison subjects at baseline and follow-up. At baseline, cases were poorer than comparison subjects with respect to individual income (p = 0.01), household income (p = 0.02), and per capita expenditure (PCE) (p = 0.003). After provision of hearing aids, median household income improved among cases (p = 0.03). In the comparison group, median individual income (p = 0.01) and PCE (p = 0.03) fell between baseline at follow-up. At follow-up, there were also improvements in productive time use, quality of life, and depressive symptoms among cases, but these were less apparent in the comparison group. In conclusion, this study has demonstrated a positive effect of hearing aids in improving quality of life, economic circumstances and mental health among Guatemalan adults.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7277678
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-72776782020-06-12 Impact of Hearing Aids on Poverty, Quality of Life and Mental Health in Guatemala: Results of a before and after Study Spreckley, Mark Macleod, David González Trampe, Brenda Smith, Andrew Kuper, Hannah Int J Environ Res Public Health Article There are 466 million people globally with disabling hearing loss, many of whom can benefit from hearing aids. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of providing hearing aids on poverty, mental health, quality of life, and activities, among adults in Guatemala. A nonrandomised before and after study was conducted, with a comparison group to assess for secular trends. Adult cases with bilateral hearing impairment were identified within 150 km of Guatemala City, as well as age- and sex-matched comparison subjects without disabling hearing loss. All participants were interviewed with a semistructured questionnaire, and cases were offered hearing aids. Participants were reinterviewed 6–9 months later. We interviewed 135 cases and 89 comparison subjects at baseline and follow-up. At baseline, cases were poorer than comparison subjects with respect to individual income (p = 0.01), household income (p = 0.02), and per capita expenditure (PCE) (p = 0.003). After provision of hearing aids, median household income improved among cases (p = 0.03). In the comparison group, median individual income (p = 0.01) and PCE (p = 0.03) fell between baseline at follow-up. At follow-up, there were also improvements in productive time use, quality of life, and depressive symptoms among cases, but these were less apparent in the comparison group. In conclusion, this study has demonstrated a positive effect of hearing aids in improving quality of life, economic circumstances and mental health among Guatemalan adults. MDPI 2020-05-15 2020-05 /pmc/articles/PMC7277678/ /pubmed/32429252 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103470 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Spreckley, Mark
Macleod, David
González Trampe, Brenda
Smith, Andrew
Kuper, Hannah
Impact of Hearing Aids on Poverty, Quality of Life and Mental Health in Guatemala: Results of a before and after Study
title Impact of Hearing Aids on Poverty, Quality of Life and Mental Health in Guatemala: Results of a before and after Study
title_full Impact of Hearing Aids on Poverty, Quality of Life and Mental Health in Guatemala: Results of a before and after Study
title_fullStr Impact of Hearing Aids on Poverty, Quality of Life and Mental Health in Guatemala: Results of a before and after Study
title_full_unstemmed Impact of Hearing Aids on Poverty, Quality of Life and Mental Health in Guatemala: Results of a before and after Study
title_short Impact of Hearing Aids on Poverty, Quality of Life and Mental Health in Guatemala: Results of a before and after Study
title_sort impact of hearing aids on poverty, quality of life and mental health in guatemala: results of a before and after study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7277678/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32429252
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103470
work_keys_str_mv AT spreckleymark impactofhearingaidsonpovertyqualityoflifeandmentalhealthinguatemalaresultsofabeforeandafterstudy
AT macleoddavid impactofhearingaidsonpovertyqualityoflifeandmentalhealthinguatemalaresultsofabeforeandafterstudy
AT gonzaleztrampebrenda impactofhearingaidsonpovertyqualityoflifeandmentalhealthinguatemalaresultsofabeforeandafterstudy
AT smithandrew impactofhearingaidsonpovertyqualityoflifeandmentalhealthinguatemalaresultsofabeforeandafterstudy
AT kuperhannah impactofhearingaidsonpovertyqualityoflifeandmentalhealthinguatemalaresultsofabeforeandafterstudy