Hearing health of adults and the elderly: effectiveness of remote educational actions for Community Health Agents

Abstract

Purpose: to assess the evolution of educational actions on hearing health, in the remote format, for Community Health Agents from Santa Maria, RS, Brazil, and to identify if there is a relationship between the level of knowledge acquired and the variables age, length of service and education. Methods: a quantitative and interventional research, carried out with 44 Community Health Agents, who participated in three meetings, via Google Meet. In the first, data on the professionals' knowledge were collected and, in the second and third meetings, there was training on 1) hearing, 2) hearing health and disorders, 3) organization of the Hearing Health Service, 4) use/hygiene of hearing aids and 5) importance of users' follow-up at the service, and the collection of knowledge acquired on these topics. Such collection took place through Quizzes, elaborated in Google Forms. The statistical tests Chi-square and Two-sample Test of Proportions were used to statistically analyze the data, with a significance of 5%. Results: there was a difference in the rate of correct answers in the post-training Quiz and the acquisition of knowledge was more evident when compared to the performances "worse" and "mistake" in themes 1, 2, 3 and 4. No relationship was found between the level of knowledge acquired and the studied variables. Conclusion: the educational actions proved to be effective and the level of knowledge acquired on the topics is not related to the studied variables.