Parents' Compliance With and Impressions of a Maturing Community-Based Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program: An Update

Abstract

Background: For quality assurance reasons, it is important to monitor the services provided over time for infants and their families through both hospital and community-based early hearing detection and intervention programs (EHDIPs) and to compare results for local programs to national benchmarks. This two-part study is an update to earlier reports published for a particular EHDIP. Purpose: To evaluate a maturing, diverse community-based EHDIP partially managed through a private practice in Santa Barbara, California, and to compare results to earlier reports for this program and to national data. Research Design: A parent questionnaire and a retrospective case-report chart review process was used. Study Sample: Charts were reviewed for 150 babies that were referred to the practice from two hospitals and were seen for screenings and follow-up. Also, parents of 34 infants seen beyond their initial or secondary screenings were surveyed about their experiences with and impressions of the program. Data Collection And Analysis: Babies seen by the practice between May 2003 and November 2006 were tracked across five levels (from hospital screening through intervention) to determine if parents complied with professionals' recommendations, time taken to comply, and highest level reached and whether it was an appropriate termination point. Also, parents' responses to an 11-item questionnaire assessing their impressions about their participation in the program were analyzed and compared to the compliance data. Results: Of the 150 babies, 116 passed initial or secondary screenings; compliance details at the subsequent levels of follow-up are provided for the remaining 34 infants. Seven of the 34 families completed the questionnaire. Compliance at early levels was excellent, meeting EHDIP benchmarks and previous results for this program; that for subsequent levels was poorer, possibly due to the diverse population. Parents' impressions of this program ranged from neutral to generally positive. Conclusions: This maturing EHDIP generally met national benchmarks and continued to serve the infants and families well. However, parents' compliance with physician visits and audiologic follow-up for habilitation including hearing aids in a timely manner could still be improved.