VA National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, Portland, OR 10/25/2010

Six Week Post-Workshop Telephone Interview

Note to clinician: The questions below are provided as a framework for guiding a conversation 

about how the patient has been doing since the workshops. No specific criteria are provided to 

guide decision making at the end of the interview. At the end of the interview the clinician and 

patient will have discussed general progress, and then can together make a decision about what 

to do next.

1. Since the workshops, what have you been doing to manage your reactions to tinnitus?

(Note to clinician: First, let the patient respond spontaneously. Then, ask specifically about 

use of sound, relaxation techniques, planning pleasant activities, and changing thoughts – if 

they haven’t already been covered.)

Use of sound: _______________________________________________________________

Relaxation techniques: _______________________________________________________

Planning pleasant activities: ___________________________________________________

Changing thoughts: __________________________________________________________

Other comments: ____________________________________________________________

2. What has been most helpful for you?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

3. What has been least helpful for you?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

4. Overall, how satisfied are you with how you are doing with your tinnitus?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________
VA National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, Portland, OR 10/25/2010

Note to clinician: Below are five options for how to proceed after this interview. Below each 

option is a description of patients who might be interested in that option. However, the decision 

for how to proceed after the interview is up the judgment and desires of both clinician and 

patient (even in cases when the decision does not match the descriptors well).

• No further intervention

o Reasonably satisfied with how well tinnitus is managed

o Does not desire further intervention

• Attend all workshop sessions again

o Would like to review the content from all sessions

o Would like to use the group interactions to provide motivation to carry through with 

using the techniques taught during all sessions

• Attend some workshop sessions again

o Would like to review content from certain sessions, but not all sessions

o Would like to use the group interactions to provide motivation to carry through with 

using the techniques taught during certain sessions

• Watch videos that provide content from the workshops

o Would like to review the content from the sessions, but do not wish to engage in 

group interactions again, or who would prefer to review content without being 

required to return to the VA

• Level 4 Interdisciplinary Evaluation

o Desires further intervention, but repeating the workshops is undesirable and/or 

deemed unlikely to be helpful