Patient Navigation Interventions for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children and Their Families: A Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND:Children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) require complex multidisciplinary care to achieve optimal developmental outcomes. OBJECTIVES:The present study aims to conduct a scoping review of research on Patient Navigation (PN) interventions designed to support DHH children and their families after identification of a hearing loss to determine the scope, models, and effectiveness of PN to improve access to care. METHODS:We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL, and PsycInfo databases. After duplicate records were reviewed, two researchers read titles and abstracts and screened the full texts. Consensus was reached among all authors for final study inclusion. Researchers independently extracted the data and performed data synthesis in tabular and narrative formats. Studies describing and evaluating PN interventions for DHH children with a confirmed hearing loss diagnosis were included, while studies describing an intervention without evaluation, targeted at adults, or conducted prior to confirmed diagnosis were excluded. RESULTS:Four studies met inclusion criteria. Three studies were conducted at large urban tertiary academic medical centers in the United States, two of the three included predominantly lower socioeconomic status participants, and all reported improved outcomes after PN intervention. A fourth study was conducted in Bangladesh and targeted adolescents eligible for hearing aids. CONCLUSIONS:There have been few studies evaluating PN interventions for DHH children after a confirmed hearing loss diagnosis. Additional work is needed to systematically evaluate the feasibility, effectiveness, and scalability of PN interventions on improving access to care and reducing inequities for DHH children.