Intervention for Hearing Health Among Native Americans

Summary

The purpose of the study is to understand the cultural impact on hearing loss among Native Americans who traditionally rely on oral communication. This Native American community based participatory research hearing protection study proposes to implement a culturally relevant Talking Circles intervention to address hearing health inequities among Native Americans. The goal is to establish a sustainable culturally based Talking Circle (TC) hearing loss prevention program to disseminate messages, thus promote hearing health and improve access to preventive tools within the larger tribal community with high occupational and recreational noise exposure.

TC Participants will:

* Complete a set of questionnaires (3 total) throughout the study.
* Complete an audiometer hearing test with headphones, and watch one video computer related to hearing and how to protect hearing at the tribal wellness center.
* In 6-months into the trial, participants will be asked to complete the same set of questionnaires from the beginning of the study.
* In 12-months after the baseline surveys and hearing test, participants will be asked to complete the same set of questionnaires that were done at the beginning of the study and complete another hearing test by the computer.

The intervention will include facilitator training for local implementation and a delayed-intervention control to assess knowledge gains and protective behavior changes. Through use of the TC, the participants in the training program can use the support and insight from each other to be trained to establish self-sustaining hearing loss prevention program in the tribal community.

Conditions

• Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Talking Circle

The TC intervention involves applying a tribal specific theory-based approach. The TCI is based within the Native Reliance theoretical model, which is a cultural identity construct that reflects the holistic worldview, values, beliefs, and behaviors within Native American culture. The community partnership community will assess and validate appropriate tribal language, community needs, and culturally content to be included in the TCI.

BEHAVIORAL

Diabetes prevention program & delayed TC

The control group participants will receive the video/audio computer program on hearing, hearing loss, and diabetes prevention strategies. Participants will receive the delayed TCI after completing the 12-month follow up.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)

  collaborator NIH

• University of Texas at Austin

  collaborator OTHER

• University of California, San Francisco

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Oi Saeng Hong, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAAOHN · University of California, San Francisco

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-09-01

Primary Completion

2030-04-30

Completion

2030-04-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations