Implementing Internet-Based Aural Rehabilitation in a General Clinical Practice

Milijana Malmberg, Thomas Lunner, Kim Kähäri, Gunilla Jansson, Gerhard Andersson

The purpose of this paper is to share the lessons that were learned about the process of implementing an Internet-based, randomized controlled trial (RCT) in general clinical practice (GCP) and to address some of the advantages of using the Internet as a tool to implement a RCT in GCP. The RCT implemented focused on investigating Internet-based aural rehabilitation (AR) in addition to hearing aid (HA)-fitting supplemented with telephone support, and it was applied in a clinical setting. The results of this RCT and the questionnaires chosen will be presented in an article elsewhere. Here, the procedure of the implemented trial is presented, and the implementation challenges are presented and discussed. Specifically, we describe the trial research question, recruitment strategy, patient eligibility criteria, the questionnaires, clinician participation, funding and time (for the clinicians), and risks and benefits (for the participants). The trial implementation showed that AR in addition to HA-fitting can be carried out in GCP using the Internet. Using an Internet-based RCT overcomes some of the challenges of implementing a trial in GCP.