Part II: Evaluation of professional functioning 99 communication trainings on the CS, PA, and NFR of employees with hearing loss have not yet been investigated. Therefore, the aim of this study is to describe the CS, PA and NFR in a small sample of employees with hearing loss before and directly after participating in a communication group-training. Materials and methods Study design This study focused on employees with hearing loss who received a communication group-training in the period from October 2020 to January 2022. To provide a broad description of current practices, employees were included at two audiological centers in the Netherlands, respectively Libra Revalidation and Audiology (AC1) and Adelante Audiology and Communication (AC2). Outcomes were measured by an online questionnaire before the start of the training (T0) and directly after the last meeting of the training (T1).The time interval between T0 and T1 ranged from7 to 12 weeks. Ethical considerations All procedures were done in accord with the Declaration of Helsinki of 1964 and its later amendments. The Ethics Committee of the Academic Medical center declared that no formal approval of the detailed protocol was required according to the Dutch Medical Research Involving Human Subjects Act (No. W19_501). Participants Eligible employees participated in the communication group-training of AC1 between 2020 and 2022 or in the communication group-training of AC2 between 2021 and 2022.The inclusion criteria further required the employees to be aged between 18 and 67, to work at least 8 hours per week, to have hearing complaints in the work situation, and to complete the informed consent form and both questionnaires. Communication training The content of the communication group-training at AC1 and AC2 is summarized in Table 1. The training consists of a speech reading training, instruction about hearing loss, instruction about assistive listening devices, and instruction or counselling on daily life situations. The communication training is mainly provided by a social worker and
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