14 – Client Group Benefits
The Benefits of Consumer Groups
Learning how to do all of this effectively requires:
- Consumers informing others that they have a hearing loss
- Informing them about what to do to be understood (follow the guidelines)
- Reminding them when they forget to follow the guidelines
- Modeling the communication behavior consumers want from them
- Reinforcing their communication efforts in their behalf
- Relaxing and maintaining their composure in difficult situations
Learning how to do all of this effectively requires:
- Knowing what to do
- Lots of practice in doing it
- Receiving feedback about the adequacy of the performance
A consumer group format is the most effective and efficient way to accomplish all of this.
There are many situations related to hearing loss that require a person who is hard of hearing and/or his/her communication partner to respond effectively on the spot. Many times the most effective responses are not in people’s behavioral repertoire, and they need to be taught and practiced with feedback provided. The key ingredient is practice, practice, practice. The major benefits of seeing consumers in a group are that:
- The consumers have the opportunity to practice effective communication behavior in a safe environment with peers whose experiences are similar.
- The VR professional has the opportunity to directly observe and provide feedback about their communication behaviors. This provides opportunity to pinpoint and correct ineffective communication behavior as it occurs, resulting in rapid and lasting positive communication behavior changes.
It is recommended that, whenever possible, communication partners be included in the groups.
Group format provides opportunity for consumers to:
- Discuss the variety of hearing loss-related problems that members experience.
- Learn about hearing loss-related problems and concerns experienced by their communication partners.
- Learn about hearing loss-related problem solutions reported by other members and their communication partners.
- Learn the variety of causes of communication breakdowns—speaker, listener and environmental.
- Learn and practice effective communication behaviors.
- Learn to anticipate difficult communication situations and to plan strategies for preventing/reducing them.
- Learn about and practice using assistive listening devices.
- Practice effective communication behavior outside of the group (via homework assignments) and receive support and feedback from other group members and the VR professional.
- Learn that it is socially permissible to ask others to alter their communication behavior in order to facilitate understanding what is being said.
- Develop a network of people who understand and share their major issues.
- Learn about community services or agencies that provide useful support and information.
Potential benefits for VR professionals of conducting groups include:
- Observe communication behavior problems and issues as they occur.
- Pinpoint the causes of observed communication breakdowns.
- Immediately offer suggestions to improve communication behavior.
- Opportunity to provide feedback to consumers and their communication partners about the adequacy of their communication efforts.
- Learn about the variety of problems experienced by their consumers and their communication partners.
- Provide homework experiences to generalize the benefits of behavior changes occurring in the group.
- Trouble-shoot difficulties experienced by consumers when doing the homework assignments.
- Gain practice in the effective use of a variety of assisted listening devices.
- Increase skills in conducting corrective communication experiences, i.e., pinpointing problem causes, suggesting more effective communication behaviors, and providing feedback on the adequacy of the performance.
Another benefit of seeing consumers in groups occurs when consumer’s and their communication partners learn and understand the variety of causes of communication difficulties, they often stop or curtail blaming the hearing aids for many of the continuing communication problems they experience. One result has been a decrease in the return rate of hearing aids when such programs have been offered.