A cross-sectional survey of non-specialist Australian audio-vestibular clinical practice for traumatic brain injury and rehabilitation

Bojana Šarkić; Jacinta. M. Douglas; Andrea Simpson

doi:10.1071/IB23047

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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A cross-sectional survey of non-specialist Australian audio-vestibular clinical practice for traumatic brain injury and rehabilitation

Bojana Šarkić

^A ^* , Jacinta. M. Douglas

^A ^B and Andrea Simpson ^A ^C

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia

^B Summer Foundation, Victoria, Australia

^C College of Health & Human Services, Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia

^* Correspondence to: b.sarkic@latrobe.edu.au

Brain Impairment 24(3) 611-628 https://doi.org/10.1017/BrImp.2022.35

Submitted: 19 October 2021 Accepted: 15 December 2022 Published: 6 January 2023

© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Objective:

This study explored non-specialist audiological clinical practice in the context of traumatic brain injury (TBI), and whether such practices incorporated considerations of TBI-related complexities pertaining to identification, diagnosis and management of associated auditory and vestibular disturbances.

Design:

A cross-sectional online survey exploring clinical practice, TBI-related training and information provision was distributed to audiologists across Australia via Audiology Australia and social media. Fifty audiologists, 80% female and 20% male, participated in this study. Years of professional practice ranged from new graduate to more than 20 years of experience.

Results:

Clear gaps of accuracy in knowledge and practice across all survey domains relating to the identification, diagnosis and management of patients with auditory and/or vestibular deficits following TBI were evident. Further, of the surveyed audiologists working in auditory and vestibular settings, 91% and 86%, respectively, reported not receiving professional development for the diagnosis and management of post-traumatic audio-vestibular deficits.

Conclusion:

Inadequate resources, equipment availability and TBI-related training may have contributed to the gaps in service provision, influencing audiological management of patients with TBI. A tailored TBI approach to identification, diagnosis and management of post-traumatic auditory and vestibular disturbances is needed.

Keywords: traumatic brain injury, audiology, hearing, balance, assessment, rehabilitation.

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