An approach to the audit of tinnitus management

This study examines the advantages and internal consistency of an open-ended questionnaire (Benefit-problem questionnaire), over the Tinnitus questionnaire used by Jakes et al. (1985) in the auditing of a stress management programme. The Tinnitus questionnaire showed very little difference pre- and post-treatment, while the Benefit/problem questionnaire showed good improvement over a number of variables. This included some of the more traditional orthogonal values of tinnitus complaint. The clinical assessment made blindly and over a different time scale to the Benefit/problem questionnaire matched these positive results quite closely.