Be Part of the Conversation: Audiology Messaging During a Hearing Screening.

OBJECTIVES The moment patients learn the results from a hearing assessment can be a critical juncture on their journey to rehabilitation. Message framing (e.g., the positive or negative manner in which information is presented) has been explored in a wide range of health contexts as a method for shaping patients' decision-making. This study investigated whether attitudes toward hearing loss treatment varied as a function of how messages about treatment were framed, and whether such attitudes differed as a function of participants being led to believe they had failed a hearing screening. METHODS Sixty-four participants (18 to 39 years of age) took the Hearing in Noise Test. In the sound booth, participants saw a poster bearing either a gain-framed or loss-framed message about hearing loss treatment. During the test, half the participants were interrupted by the researcher who stated that their performance appeared to suggest a hearing loss, with the caveat that it might be due to an equipment malfunction. While the researcher investigated the problem, the participants completed an 11-item questionnaire asking about their attitudes toward help seeking for hearing loss. Participants in the control group completed the same questionnaire with no interruption. RESULTS Statistical analyses revealed no significant interaction effect between message type and experimenter feedback condition, though a significant main effect was present for message type. Post hoc testing showed medium to large effect sizes as a function of message type on five of the 11-questionnaire items. These data indicated that participants were more likely to endorse health-positive responses (i.e., greater interest in hearing treatment) when exposed to the gain-framed message than the loss-framed message. CONCLUSIONS The greater likelihood of health-positive responses in the presence of the gain-framed message suggests that this framing strategy may have a positive influence on attitudes toward hearing health behaviors among individuals under 40 years of age with no history of hearing loss.