Investigating barriers and enablers to hearing aid take-up and use by older adults with hearing loss - a focus group study.

OBJECTIVE Untreated hearing loss is associated with significant negative physical, psychological, cognitive, and financial sequelae. Hearing aid (HA) take-up and use are low. Current studies have explained limited variance in HA take-up and use. This focus group study used an applied theoretical framework of human behaviour (Theoretical Domains Framework) to investigate barriers and enablers to HA take-up and use by older adults to identify top potentially modifiable barriers and enablers that could be addressed with behavioural interventions. DESIGN Data on barriers and enablers to HA take-up and use was obtained through online focus groups with older adults with hearing loss. STUDY SAMPLES Participants were 19 adult HA users and 12 non-users in Australia with diagnosed hearing loss recruited from two rural and one large metropolitan audiology clinic/s. RESULTS The perceived effectiveness of HAs, the influence of others, the ability to adapt to HAs, the relative importance of hearing loss, and the perceived need for HAs were all identified as both top potentially modifiable barriers and enablers to HA take-up and use. CONCLUSIONS These top barriers and enablers to HA take-up and use will be addressed through theory-informed behavioural interventions in a further study to improve HA take-up and use.