** Supporting Care Home Residents Living with Dementia and Hearing Loss ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ** ---------- For older adults living in care homes, both dementia and hearing loss are highly prevalent. This dual sensory-cognitive impairment disproportionately affects care home residents compared to their community-dwelling peers. Uncorrected hearing loss leads to higher rates of depression, social isolation and poorer quality of life and exacerbates dementia related symptoms such as agitation, anxiety and confusion. It is therefore essential that appropriate support is provided for this population group, however current management practices are generally unknown. Many residents rely solely on care providers (care assistants, nurses etc.) for support with their hearing aids, sound amplification devices and other prompts and aids. However, previous research has identified that care home staff often struggle to provide this support. In particular, residents with more advanced dementia have very low rates of hearing aid use. This has been attributed to lack of staff training on hearing loss support, lack of staff time and poor multi-disciplinary processes. This is yet to be studied comprehensively however, therefore the underpinnings of hearing loss management difficulties remain unknown. This study will use the Behaivour Change Wheel to identify gaps in staff capability, opportunity and motivation for providing hearing loss support for residents with dementia (Michie et al., 2011). The results will be used as targets for future behaviour change heairng-related interventions involving both residents and care home staff aiming at improving psychosocial outcomes. ---------- Research questions: To what extent are residents with dementia and hearing loss are given hearing support by LTC staff? What are the capabilities, opportunities and motivations of LTC staff for providing hearing support to LTC home residents with dementia? Do LTC staff’s capabilities, opportunities, motivations and work-related demographic factors predict the provision of hearing support to residents with dementia?