1.The effectiveness of psychological interventions amongtinnitus sufferers: A review
Wan Suhailah Wan Husain ; Mohd Normani Zakaria ; Nik Adilah Nik Othman ; Azizah Othman ; Aw Cheu Lih ; Zuraida Zainun
The Medical Journal of Malaysia 2015;70(3):188-197
SUMMARY
Introduction: The aim of this article was to review the types
of psychological interventions for patients with tinnitus,
professionals involved in giving the intervention, the
effectiveness of each method of interventions and
comparisons with non-psychological approaches in treating
tinnitus.
Materials and Methods: PubMed database searched.
Results: Twenty one articles that employed randomized
controlled trials design were included. Cognitive
behavioural therapy (CBT) was the most common
intervention conducted by the researchers. Clinical
psychologists and trainee psychologists were the most
professionals involved in the therapy. The length of therapy
ranged from six weeks to three months.
Discussion: Psychological interventions were more
effective in reducing psychological impacts of tinnitus than
non-psychological interventions such as the use of tinnitus
maskers. Nevertheless, the combination of the treatments
yielded more superior outcomes.
Conclusion: A simplified version of psychological
intervention that can be implemented by other clinical
professionals should be developed to treat tinnitus
holistically to overcome the shortage number of clinical
psychologists.
Tinnitus
;
Clinical Trial
2.Test-retest reliability and responsiveness of a Malay tinnitus questionnaire
Mohd Normani ZAKARIA ; Wan Suhailah Wan Husain ; Nik Adilah Nik Othman
The Medical Journal of Malaysia 2018;73(1):7-8
Introduction: Tinnitus is a common complaint amongpatients with ear diseases and can be serious if not treated.Recently, a Malay tinnitus questionnaire, known as the“Borang Evaluasi Soal selidik Tinnitus” (BEST) had beendeveloped and preliminarily validated among Malayspeakingpopulation. The aims of the present study were todetermine the test-retest reliability and responsiveness ofthe BEST questionnaire.Method: Forty-six Malay adults (aged 23-74 years) withtinnitus were enrolled. They were instructed to fill in theBEST questionnaire accordingly. After one week, 21 of themwere asked to fill in the questionnaire again. The other 25subjects underwent tinnitus intervention for three monthsand following this; the BEST was administered to themagain.Results: In the test-retest reliability task, the intraclasscorrelation values obtained were acceptably high (0.70-0.90).After the intervention, significant differences in the BESTresult were found in the mind domain, main domain andcomposite score (p<0.05) with moderate effect sizes (0.61-0.70).Conclusion: The test-retest reliability of the BEST was foundto be good. It also showed good responsiveness tointervention. The clinical usefulness of the BEST inassessing patients with tinnitus was further supported bythe present study.nnaire; reliability; responsiveness; effect size