The Chronic Care Model and Chronic Condition Self-Management: An Introduction for Audiologists

Semin Hear 2019; 40: 007-025 DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1676780Hearing health care is biomedically focused, device-centered, and clinician-led. There is emerging evidence that these characteristics—all of which are hallmarks of a health care system designed to address acute, rather than chronic, conditions—may contribute to low rates of help-seeking and hearing rehabilitation uptake among adults with hearing loss. In this review, we introduce audiologists to the Chronic Care Model, an organizational framework that describes best-practice clinical care for chronic conditions, and suggest that it may be a viable model for hearing health care to adopt. We further introduce the concept of chronic condition self-management, a key component of chronic care that refers to the knowledge and skills patients use to manage the effects of a chronic condition on all aspects of daily life. Drawing on the chronic condition evidence base, we demonstrate a link between the provision of effective self-management support and improved clinical outcomes and discuss validated methods with which clinicians can support the acquisition and application of self-management skills in their patients. We examine the extent to which elements of chronic condition self-management have been integrated into clinical practice in audiology and suggest directions for further research in this area. [...] Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.Article in Thieme eJournals: Table of content...
Source: Seminars in Hearing - Category: Audiology Authors: Tags: Review Article Source Type: research