Development and initial validation of the “Clinical Global Impression” to measure outcomes for audiological rehabilitation

Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop and validate an interview instrument for assessing outcome following hearing aid fitting based on clinical global impressions. Method: The Audiological Rehabilitation Clinical Global Impression (AR-CGI) was developed and used in a telephone interview in two separate samples. The first sample (N=69) consisted of hearing aid owners who had participated in two intervention studies and the second sample consisted of hearing aid owners receiving regular services from a hearing clinic (N=21). Following the structured telephone interview, participants were categorized into three categories: Successful, Successful with some limitations, or Unsuccessful. Results: A vast majority were categorized as Successful (80% of the intervention sample and 71% of the clinical sample). Those categorized as successful were found to differ from those categorized as less successful in terms of age and self-reported hearing aid use, depressed mood, and residual participation restriction, but they did not differ in terms of degree of hearing loss. Conclusion: It is suggested that the brevity and usefulness of the AR-CGI makes it a potential tool for further use in audiological settings.