Objectives: Sustaining multidisciplinary collaboration is crucial yet challenging in rural areas characterized by geographical challenges. This study assessed an online multidisciplinary conference (MDC) system in Iwate, Japan, with the objective of supporting a shift from reactive care toward a more proactive support model for the long-term development of children with hearing loss.
Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 315 discussion topics from 46 online MDCs (2020-2025). The topics were categorized based on age and hearing level. A questionnaire survey was administered to 20 professionals to evaluate the system's impact.
Results: A significant shift in support needs was identified. While placement support was predominant for younger children, the proportion of cases involving profound hearing loss reached 76% (26/34 cases) in the high school group, with topics increasingly focusing on psychosocial issues, including psychosomatic symptoms. Conversely, MDCs facilitated early-stage clinical optimizations, such as increasing daily cochlear implant wear time in an infant, suggesting the potential effectiveness of proactive, multidisciplinary intervention.
Conclusion: The "Iwate model" may support a transition from reactive medical care to a proactive support model by identifying latent risks before they manifest as school refusal or psychosomatic symptoms. By integrating multidisciplinary data from infancy, the system may facilitate the early visualization of latent risks. This longitudinal monitoring not only addresses immediate maladaptation but also establishes a foundation for fostering future self-advocacy and ensuring broad social participation by individuals with hearing loss.
Keywords: Hearing loss; Multidisciplinary collaboration; Rural health; School refusal; Self-advocacy; Telemedicine.
Copyright © 2026 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.