Beginner Clinician Self-efficacy in Conducting Tinnitus Management Appointments for Patients with Bothersome Tinnitus Mark Weiner and Dr. Marc Fagelson, Department of Audiology Speech Language Pathology, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, approximately 10% of the U.S. adult population, more than 30 million Americans, experience some form of tinnitus. Roughly 5 million people struggle with bothersome chronic tinnitus, while 2 million report it as debilitating. Clinician self-efficacy is an important driver of the implementation of services that patients require. If clinicians do not have a high self-efficacy, or confidence in their ability to provide for patients, then they are less likely to implement services that the patients require and may not feel comfortable working with the challenging patient populations, such as patients bothered by tinnitus. The purpose of this study was to evaluate audiology student clinicians’ confidence in their ability to conduct tinnitus assessment and management, as well as to determine the skills that audiology student clinicians feel that they need to acquire in order to enhance their clinical self-efficacy. In audiology, tinnitus is one of the more complex issues that patients face, and patients often require extensive counselling in order to help manage their tinnitus. Therefore, high clinician self-efficacy is necessary to meet the varied, and on occasion, profound needs of the tinnitus population. In order to determine the degree to which student clinicians believe they could conduct tinnitus assessment and management appointments, an online RedCap survey was created and sent to students that are currently attending audiology doctoral programs. The survey consisted of eleven questions and measured the confidence of the students in conducting tinnitus assessment and management appointments, determined what the students felt should be included in these appointments, and asked what the students felt they needed to know or to learn in order to provide for patients following their graduation. Fifteen audiology doctoral students from four universities completed the surveys. Responses showed that students felt confident in their ability to conduct tinnitus assessment and management appointments accurately and effectively. However, only eight students reported that they will conduct tinnitus assessment and management appointments when they graduate from their doctoral programs. Students reported that they still felt they needed additional resources such as visual aids and handouts in order to conduct these appointments in the future. These findings show that while students may feel confident in their ability to conduct tinnitus assessment and management appointments, that the knowledge alone will not translate into providing care for patients bothered by tinnitus.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:asrf-2384 |
| Date | 05 April 2024 |
| Creators | Weiner, Mark, Fagelson, Marc |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Appalachian Student Research Forum |
Page generated in 0.0147 seconds