Deaf Health Review

Little data are available on the outcomes of pregnancies of Deaf women in low and middle income countries. This is because resources are scarce in these countries and the Deaf are a hard-to-reach population due to communication barriers and mistrust of researchers. South Africa is currently implementing a National Health Insurance plan, and better data are needed to ensure that the needs of Deaf women are met. Fontes Marx et al. conducted a study to determine if South American Deaf women of childbearing age could produce reliable and valid histories of their pregnancies. The researchers interviewed a convenience sample of 42 Deaf women in South African Sign Language. Reliability was tested by giving a subset of the women the same questionnaire either later the same day or the next day. The women provided the same response for 87% of the questions. Validity was tested by comparing the women's responses to data in the South African Provincial Health Data Centre. For the 35 women ...

Previous studies have documented that members of the Deaf community are at risk for low health literacy, which contributes to poor health status. Spellun et al. sought to discover if this was true for HPV knowledge among Deaf young adults. They conducted a secondary analysis of data collected in the Health Information National Trends survey that was administered in ASL and compared the results to that of the same survey administered to hearing young adults. The 235 Deaf respondents were significantly less likely to have heard of HPV (58% vs. 84%), to know that HPV can cause cervical cancer (46.7% vs. 77.9%), to have heard of the HPV vaccine (65.2% vs. 85.6%), and to believe that the HPV vaccine can prevent cervical cancer (31.9% vs. 49.0%). They conclude by recommending more culturally appropriate education about HPV, targeting healthcare providers and young Deaf adults and their family members. Paywalled Spellun, A.H., Moreland, C.J. & Kushalnagar, P, (2019). Young Deaf...