Saturday, May 4, 2024
5/4/2024
In this Phase I proposal resubmission, KDH Research & Communication (KDHRC) proposes to develop and evaluate the Online Resource Center for Older Adults with Cochlear Implants (RCCI). RCCI will be an innovative web-based resource center for older adults (aged 65+) with cochlear implants (CIs), and their family members, for age-related hearing loss. RCCI will provide high-quality information and practical skills-building resources to prepare and provide on-going support for older adults to optimally benefit from their CIs. Challenges in real-world settings can lead CI users to avoid social situations or stop using their CIs. Experts routinely note a need for more comprehensive, on-going supports, and although older adults with CIs want and need support, they face numerous barriers, including time, financial, and locational constraints, to access postimplantation support services. In-person support services may be intermittent or lacking due to limited therapist availability in remote or rural locations and inadequate insurance among poor, minority, and inner- city populations. Even for insured older adults, insurance for postimplantation support services may only cover only weekly sessions for 2-3 months or a set number of sessions (e.g., 6-10). Thus, there is a substantial and growing need for alternative sources of ongoing postimplantation support for older adults that are low cost, widely available, and evidence based. This unmet need presents a tremendous opportunity for easily-accessed web-based services like RCCI, which is well positioned to overcome the many challenges to delivering services in-person. RCCI targets older adults to increase their knowledge, self-efficacy, and skills to maintain their CIs, improve their communication strategies, manage challenging physical and social hearing environments, and develop self-advocacy skills. When finished, RCCI will consist of a website with static and interactive content providing easy-to-use, shareable resources for older adults and their family members. In Phase I, we will develop and test RCCI’s prototype, a website characterized by full static content and limited interactivity. At the end of this project, we will have a functioning prototype and feasibility data, which will test the extent which (1) exposure to RCCI leads to significant and positive changes among older adults in knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and intentions to optimally benefit from their CIs in comparison to a control; and (2) exposure to RCCI leads to significant and positive changes among family members in knowledge, self-efficacy, and intentions to support older adults with CIs comparison to a control. The information gained through the RCCI evaluation will contribute to a field lacking evidence-based, non- clinical interventions to support older adults to optimally use and benefit from their CIs. Further, RCCI will contribute to the literature on web-based health interventions for older adults, ongoing education programs for older adults with CIs, and how older adults use CIs in real-world settings.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
