Self-advocacy training for students with cochlear implants entering higher education

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KDH Research & Communication (KDHRC) submits this Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) application to expand and fully evaluate Cochlear Implant University (CIU). CIU is an online, self- advocacy skills-building resource for high school and college students with cochlear implants (CIs) aged 16-21 and their parents. CIU seeks to develop high school and college students’ self-advocacy knowledge and skills to support a successful academic and social transition into higher education. The need for CIU is great. Increasing numbers of students with cochlear implants are entering higher education and experience myriad academic and social challenges compared to their hearing peers. These challenges in turn predict higher risk for dropout rates, poor academic and social outcomes, and may lead to underemployment or unemployment. There is a lack of self-advocacy programs specific to students with CIs and the higher education transition. To address this gap and to meet calls to action for evidence-based programs to help students develop a core set of self-advocacy skills to support a successful higher education transition, KDHRC developed and evaluated the CIU prototype. In collaboration with the AG Bell, our Phase I efforts yielded a strong prototype with supportive feasibility results and solid partnerships on which we base our Phase II approach. Leading hearing loss advocacy organizations, Alexander Graham Bell Association (AG Bell) and the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), provide support for evaluation, recruitment, and commercialization of the finished program throughout Phase II and beyond. In Phase II, we will develop additional interactive content, film video vignettes, and finalize CIU. Then, we will conduct a well-powered and methodologically strong four-week, three-condition controlled randomized trial to test CIU’s effectiveness. Our market research suggests a significant need and eager market, and support from myriad stakeholders committed to CIU scientific rigor and rapid dissemination further substantiate CIU’s importance and commercial potential.