Examining potential barriers to early intervention access in Australian hearing impaired children.

OBJECTIVES: Early intervention for children with hearing loss involves assistance in oral speech development, optimal use of hearing devices and fostering a holistic partnership between allied health and the children's families. Adequate access to early intervention has been shown to be vital in the positive development of long term language and social outcomes. However, there has been limited research to identify the factors which may influence access. This study aimed to explore whether access to early intervention by children with hearing loss is affected by: geographical location, socio-economic status and ethnic-minority family status.

METHODS: A cross-sectional research design was used in this study incorporating a survey of early intervention coordinators and an audit of an organization database. All (N=11) early intervention coordinators at an "Oral Language Centre for Deaf Children" in the state of Victoria, Australia were surveyed on whether child clients (N=133) were accessing an appropriate level of early intervention corresponding to their level of hearing loss. The length of time for each child to enroll for early intervention following diagnosis was obtained from the database of the organization. Potential differences in access between geographical groups, between socio-economic status groups and between ethnic-minority and non-minority groups were analyzed using inferential statistics.

RESULTS: Closer geographical proximity to early intervention services was associated with more appropriate (P=.000) and more prompt (P=.005) access. No difference in access to early intervention was detected for different socio-economic status groups. Although, ethnic-minority family status was not shown to influence the level of access, it took a significantly longer time for ethnic-minority families to enroll for early intervention compared to non-minority families (P=.04).

CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that geographical proximity and ethnic-minority family status, instead of socio-economic status, are more likely to be potential barriers to early intervention access in children with hearing loss. From the health promotion perspective, attention should be directed towards these potential barriers.