‘The worse my hearing got, the less sociable I got’: a qualitative study of patient and professional views of the management of social isolation and hearing loss

Abstract

Background

Social isolation is a major consequence of hearing loss. It includes an objective component (e.g. small social network) and a subjective component (e.g. loneliness).

Objective

To examine the perspectives of key stakeholders regarding (i) the relationship between hearing loss and social isolation and (ii) interventions to address hearing loss and social isolation.

Design

A phenomenological qualitative study.

Setting

A UK research centre with a role to engage patients and clinicians.

Participants

Hearing healthcare professionals (n = 7) and adults with hearing loss (n = 6) were recruited via maximum variation sampling.

Methods

Individual (n = 3) and group (n = 3) semi-structured interviews were conducted. Inductive thematic analysis was performed.

Results

Five themes were identified. Theme 1 (experience of isolation and hearing loss): hearing loss can cause people to feel disconnected at social events or to cease attending them. Theme 2 (complexity of isolation and hearing loss): the various causes of isolation (e.g. hearing loss, retirement, comorbidities) are difficult to disentangle. Theme 3 (downstream effects of isolation and hearing loss): hearing loss and/or isolation can lead to mental health problems, stigmatisation, fatigue and unemployment. Theme 4 (preferred components of an isolation intervention): an isolation intervention should be patient-led and patient-centred and take place in the community. Theme 5 (challenges to implementing an isolation intervention): barriers to implementing an isolation intervention include a lack of time, training and continuity.

Conclusion

This study demonstrated that social isolation arising from hearing loss is a substantial, complex problem and provided novel insights on implementing an intervention to address this issue.