The aim of this study was to identify factors that influence family physicians' (FPs') referral behaviors when referring adult patients for hearing assessments.
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
Audiologists and hearing healthcare advocates should consider targeted outreach and education for primary care physicians to address specific barriers to hearing assessment referrals identified in this study.
Family physicians are a crucial gateway to hearing healthcare, and understanding their referral barriers is essential for developing system-level strategies to reduce the widespread under-diagnosis of adult hearing loss.
- 01Qualitative interviews were conducted with family physicians to explore hearing referral decisions.
- 02Both facilitators and barriers to adult hearing assessment referrals were identified.
- 03Published in American Journal of Audiology — peer-reviewed audiology journal.
- 04Findings could inform interprofessional education and referral pathway redesign.
- 05Under-referral for hearing assessment is a recognised public health problem in adults.
Family physicians' decisions to refer adults for hearing assessment are shaped by identifiable psychosocial and system-level factors.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42663618
- DOI
- 10.1044/2026_AJA-25-00318.
- Journal
- American Journal of Audiology
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 5
- Population
- Family physicians (general practitioners) making referral decisions for adult patients
- Intervention
- Qualitative interviews exploring referral decision-making for adult hearing assessment
Primary outcomes
Factors (barriers and facilitators) influencing family physician referrals for adult hearing assessment