1. Acknowledgements 1. Research supported by Canadian Foundation for Innovation 2. Research supported by Dominion General Life Insurance Company 3. Mary Horney Fellowship in Rehabilitation administered through the Aging, Rehabilitation and Geriatric Care Program at Lawson Health Research Institute, St. Joseph's Health Care - Parkwood Hospital. Abstract Older Workers with Hearing Loss: Practice innovations through interprofessional collaboration Lynn Shaw, PhD 14, Heather Hodgins, MSc (Candidate) 1, Mary Beth Jennings, PhD 234, Daniel Fok, PhD (Candidate) 4, M.F. Cheesman, PhD 234, Ashley Kuchar, MSc (Candidate) 1, Laya Poost, PhD (Student) 4, Mike Prangley M.Cl.Sc. 2 1. School of Occupational Therapy, 2. School of Communication Science (Audiology), 3. National Centre for Audiology 4. Graduate Program in Health and Rehabilitation Science References 1. Fok, D., Shaw, L., Jennings, M.B. & Cheesman, M. (2007). Universal accessibility and usability for hearing: Considerations for design, Canadian Acoustics (Canadian Acoustical Association Proceedings Edition), 35 (3), 84- 85. 2. Jennings, M.B. & Shaw, L. (2008). Impact of hearing loss in the workplace: Raising questions about partnerships with professionals. WORK 30, 289-295. ENABLE KET WITH WORKERS 1. Promote acceptance of hearing loss and accommodation. 2. Educate workers on impact of hearing loss on performance and safety. 3. Increase worker’s knowledge about hearing loss. 4. Build rapport with other co-workers/maintain professional relationships. 5. Enable coping strategies and develop personal strengths (affective, cognitive, and physical) 6. Encourage supports and resources available to worker (family, financial, professional) 7. Provide online and print materials supporting workers with hearing loss who plan to continue to work past eh usual time of retirement OLDER WORKER EVALUATION AND INTERVNETIONS FOR HEARING LOSS WORKPLACE EVALUATIONS AND REDESIGN FOR OLDER WORKERS WITH HEARING LOSS TEAMWORK IN WORKPLACE ACCOMODATIONS ENABLE KET with WORKPLACES 1. Educate staff to prevent any misconceptions/stigma towards individuals with hearing loss 2. Support a dialogue about hearing loss in the workplace 3. Promote safety and hearing preservation for all individuals in the workplace 4. Provide education to supervisors and negotiate return-to-work plan including timelines 5. Ensure satisfaction in return-to-work process with all workplace parties One of the most common disabilities of older workers is hearing loss. In the workplace the use of hearing aids or devices as the only means to support hearing is inadequate 2. More efforts are needed to understand how to conduct an assessment of the auditory demands and communication requirements of work occupations and the barriers to hearing in the work environment. Hearing issues in the workplace are experiencing rapid changes characterized by uptake of new technologies and an emphasis on teamwork. Workers are working beyond normal retirement age, including those with hearing loss. These trends pose new challenges to productivity and worker interactions. No tools exist for auditory and accommodation assessment for the impact of hearing loss in the workplace for persons with non-occupational adult-onset hearing loss. The purpose of this study was to explore, through semi-structured interviews, how audiologists and occupational therapists assess and decide upon accommodations relevant to hearing loss in the workplace. Five audiologists and five occupational therapists participated in individual audio/videotaped interviews. Interviews were transcribed and underwent content analysis to identify key themes. The interviewers and the principle investigators did this independently; compared themes and resolved differences in theme interpretation. Themes that emerged were the barriers to understanding specific hearing demands on the job, lack of a formal tool for assessment of the individual and functional communication demands, lack of information on potential accommodations, implications of disclosure of hearing loss and lack of Interprofessional collaboration. Results from this exploratory study will be used to inform future research to develop person-centred assessment tools for audiologists and occupational therapists. SUPPORT DIALGOUE ABOUT DISCLOSURE 1. Educate and support workers to promote an informed decision to disclose disability or not to employer 2. Educate workers to support self-advocacy 3. Discuss potential impacts that hearing impairment may have on worker’s safety, employment record and quality of work if employer is unaware of hearing loss 4. Advise worker that disclosure is required to obtain necessary accommodation and equipment 5. Ensure confidentiality 6. Raise awareness of hearing loss and its impacts at the public level to change views of hearing loss TEAMWORK in WORKPLACE ACCOMODATIONS 1. Include education about hearing loss, its impacts, sources of funding, and the role of audiologists and occupational therapists with this population in professional training programs. 2. Include workplace and worker assessment for persons with hearing loss in the scope of practice documents of professional organizations and preferred practice guidelines of the professional licensing bodies. 3. Collaborate with other disciplines to increase depth of support available to workers. 4. Involve all workplace parties when establishing an accessible communication plan and an employer role in monitoring. 5. Validate workplace accessibility issues through onsite assessment. 6. Explore avenues in the workplace as well as external agencies and secure funding. USE UDH 1 guidelines for WORKSTATION OR WORKPLACE REDESIGN 1. Design hearing environments that maximize the capabilities of a person to hear without a hearing device 2. Optimize object-person interactions for hearing 3. Consider designs that require low cognitive and physical effort 4. Allow for choice of interaction 5. Design environments to support single or multi-functions, to allow for a range of planned or unplanned occupations involving hearing