Age-related hearing loss in individuals and their caregivers: effects of ă coping on the quality of life among the dyads

Objectives: Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) impacts the daily living and ă quality of life (QoL) of affected individuals and the functioning of ă family caregivers. In the specific context of voluntary medical ă checkups, we examined sample dyads (ARHL individual and the caregiver) ă to determine whether QoL of patients and caregivers is influenced by ă coping strategies implemented either by themselves or their relatives. ă Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with a descriptive/correlative ă design performed in a French preventive health center (Regional ă Institute for Prevention of Aging, Marseille, France) for the ă beneficiaries of pension funds of private sector employees. The samples ă included beneficiary-caregiver dyads. The beneficiaries had bilateral ă (mild to moderately severe) ARHL. Self-reported data were collected as ă follows: QoL using the World Health Organization Quality of Life ă questionnaire, coping strategies using the Brief Coping Orientation to ă Problems Experienced Scale, and anxiety and mood using visual analog ă scales. ă Results: The final sample comprised 44 beneficiaries and 44 caregivers. ă The caregiver was the partner of the beneficiary in 73% of cases. The ă QoL scores of the social dimension were significantly lower for ă beneficiaries and caregivers compared with French age-and sex-matched ă controls. Among beneficiaries and caregivers, coping strategies based on ă problem solving were the most commonly used strategies. The use of ă positive thinking strategies was associated with higher QoL scores. The ă more one member of the dyad used an avoidance coping strategy, the more ă the other member used a positive thinking strategy. ă Conclusion: This study emphasizes that QoL of individuals with ă age-related hearing impairment and their natural caregivers is related ă to the coping strategies that they use. This finding suggests that ă targeted interventions should be offered to help individuals who ă experience emotional difficulties to implement more efficient coping ă strategies.