Perceptions of Telehealth Services for Hearing Loss in South Africa’s Public Healthcare System

Aaqilah Bhamjee, Talita le Roux, Swanepoel De Wet, Marien Alet Graham, Kurt Schlemmer and Faheema Mahomed-Asmail
Additional contact information
Aaqilah Bhamjee: Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
Talita le Roux: Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
Swanepoel De Wet: Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
Marien Alet Graham: Department of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
Kurt Schlemmer: Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
Faheema Mahomed-Asmail: Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-14

Abstract: Telehealth promises increased access to hearing healthcare services, primarily in areas where hearing healthcare resources are limited, such as within the South African public healthcare system. Telehealth for hearing healthcare is especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic, where physical distancing has been essential. This study aimed to describe audiologists’ perceptions regarding telehealth services for hearing loss within South Africa’s public healthcare system. This study was divided into two phases. During Phase 1, 97 audiologists completed an electronic survey regarding their perceptions of telehealth for hearing loss within South African public sector hospitals. Synchronous virtual focus-group discussions were conducted during Phase 2. Results indicated that audiologists recognized telehealth services’ potential to improve hearing healthcare efficiency within the public sector, and most (84.1%) were willing to use it. However, telehealth’s actual uptake was low despite almost doubling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prominent perceived barriers to telehealth were primarily related to hospital resources, including the unavailability of equipment for the remote hearing/specialized assessments, internet-related barriers, and limited IT infrastructure. An increased understanding of telehealth in South Africa’s public healthcare system will assist in identifying and in improving potential barriers to telehealth, including hospital resources and infrastructure.

Keywords: hearing loss; hearing healthcare; hearing resources; audiology; telehealth; South Africa; public healthcare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/7780/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/7780/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:13:p:7780-:d:847233

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().