Purpose: Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) often experience communication challenges that hinder effective health care delivery. Hearing loss, common among this population, further complicates interactions during medical appointments. Although visual schedules are widely used in educational settings to support communication, use in health care environments is underexplored especially related to communication partner experiences. This study aimed to address the limited investigations of visual schedule use from the perspective of volunteer screeners during Special Olympics Healthy Hearing events. The goal was to assess screeners' perceptions of their utility and ease of use. Method: Sixty-five adult volunteers at Healthy Hearing events across four U.S. states participated in this study. Participants completed a prescreening survey assessing familiarity with IDDs and visual schedules, received training to use a visual schedule to guide athletes through their hearing screening, completed the screenings, and answered questions on a follow-up survey about their experiences. Results: Most participants (75%) were first-time volunteers, and 63% reported limited prior interaction with individuals with IDDs. Postscreening results indicated that over half found the visual schedule moderately to extremely useful, and 88% reported that it was easy to use. Seventy-seven percent expressed willingness to use visual schedules in future interactions. Participants noted that visual schedules enhanced athlete understanding and supported the screening process. Conclusions: The positive feedback suggests that visual schedules are a practical, low-effort tool that can enhance patient–provider communication. Future research should explore athlete perspectives and expand implementation across other health care settings and disciplines.
Price et al. (Tue,) studied this question.