Self- perception of health by the user of the Hearing Health Care Network

Abstract Background Hearing impairment is one of the most common sensory deficits in the world. The study of self-perception of health can provide knowledge of the impact of this deficiency and evaluate health promotion and prevention measures. Objective To verify the association between self-perception of health, perception of hearing problems and motivation to seek care by the user of the Hearing Health Care Network. Method this is an observational analytic cross-sectional study with random probability sample stratified per municipality composed by 228 users connected to the Hearing Health Care Units of Minas Gerais in 34 cities of the two microregions. For data collection, a semi-structured script was used. In the analysis of association, the Mann-Whitney test was used, considering statistically significant associations those that presented value p≤0.05. Results There was a statistically significant association between age and time that has the problem and between self-perception of health and perception of hearing problems. Respondents who considered auditory alteration as a health problem had a 3.72 higher odds of being considered patients. Conclusion the study found that considering hearing impairment a health problem was associated with a higher odd of being considered ill. More than half of the interviewees searched the network because of difficulties in listening and understanding people.

**摘要**
背景：听力障碍是全球最为常见的感觉功能缺陷之一。对健康自我感知的研究，可阐明此类缺陷带来的影响，并用于评估健康促进与预防措施的效果。
目的：验证听力保健服务网络（Hearing Health Care Network）使用者的健康自我感知、听力问题感知与就医动机之间的关联。
方法：本研究为观察性分析横断面研究，采用按行政区域分层的随机概率抽样方法，研究对象为巴西米纳斯吉拉斯州两个微区域34座城市中，共计228名隶属于当地听力保健门诊（Hearing Health Care Units）的使用者。数据收集采用半结构化问卷，关联分析采用曼-惠特尼检验（Mann-Whitney test），以p值≤0.05作为关联具有统计学显著性的判定标准。
结果：年龄与症状持续时长之间、健康自我感知与听力问题感知之间均存在统计学显著性关联。将听觉异常视为健康问题的受访者，被认定为患者的比数比升高3.72倍。
结论：本研究发现，将听力障碍视作健康问题，与更高的患病认定比数比相关。超过半数的受访者因聆听及理解他人存在困难，而寻求该服务网络的帮助。