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Deaf Adolescents Less Physically Active

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A sedentary lifestyle is a major contributor to many of the common causes of morbidity and mortality, such as heart disease and diabetes. Research shows that people with disabilities are less likely to be physically active that the general population. Li et al. conducted a study to determine if this was the case for Deaf adolescents, and to determine if physical activity (PA) is related to gender and social inclusion in this population. They surveyed 98 Deaf and 99 matched hearing adolescents who attended public schools in the same neighborhood in China. Each group completed written surveys, and the Deaf students were provided with an interpreter to assist with data collection. They found that the Deaf students engaged in significantly more sedentary time and less PA than the hearing students. Only 4% of the Deaf students met the WHO's PA recommendations, compared to 24% of the hearing students. Being male and reporting higher social inclusion increased the probability of engag...
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Deaf Woman Reliable Historians of Past Pregnancies

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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 ...
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Deaf Young Adults' Knowledge of HPV

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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...
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Literature Review on Healthcare Access for Deaf Seniors

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The “intersectionality of identities” is the idea that we all belong to multiple groups at once based on characteristics such as our age, race, gender and the presence of disabilities. Being a senior and being a member of the Deaf community have separately been shown to have an important impact on one's health, but what does the literature say about people who are both? Lesch et al. conducted a review of the literature and found that obstacles to healthcare were common for this group, including: Like younger Deaf, the elderly Deaf experience difficulty in making appointments, with the added burden of an increasing number and severity of healthcare issues Lack of providers who will accept Medicaid and Medicare insurance Lack of validated tests to assess the cognitive function of Deaf patients Lack of healthcare providers with competence in communicating with Deaf patients and understanding Deaf culture Lack of shared understanding around end of life decisions between healthca...
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ASL Facilitates Analogical Reasoning Ability of Deaf Children

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Analogical reasoning has been postulated to be the root of all learning. Past research has shown that Deaf children lag behind their hearing counterparts in analogical reasoning. However, these studies have usually been conducted in the researcher's written or spoken language. Henner et al. sought to test the analogical reasoning ability of Deaf children when tested in ASL. Their participants were 267 children aged 8-18 who lived in residential schools for the Deaf. They were asked to complete "A is to B as C is to what?" type questions (e.g., microwave : kitchen :: car : what?). The directions and all testing was conducted using signing. The results showed that analogical reasoning ability was dependent on the participant's age and ASL status (native signers, defined for this study as having at least one Deaf parent, did significantly better than children whose parents were both hearing). However, ASL vocabulary and syntactic ability were more important predicto...
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Difficulties in Assessing Mental Status of Deaf Patients

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Previous studies have shown that cultural differences between Deaf patients and hearing healthcare practitioners can lead to the overdiagnosis of psychotic disorders. Gawad & Helminiak present a case report of a Deaf 34-year-old man who was referred to a hospital psychiatric unit from a jail. He had had 3 prior admissions and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia each time. His rapid recovery after therapy was initiated led the authors to conclude that he was not schizophrenic but had experienced either a manic episode or the effects of substance abuse. The authors describe how the presentation of Deaf people in distress, the differences between communication in ASL versus English, and the lack of standardized and validated ASL mental assessment tools can lead to the misdiagnoses of psychotic disorders in this population. They conclude by offering advice for healthcare practitioners on assessing the mental status of Deaf patients. Gawad, N.A. & Helminiak, A. (2018). Lo...
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Pilgrimage of Parents of Deaf Children in Mexico City

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Over 90% of Deaf children are born to hearing parents, who often have a difficult time coping with this unexpected turn of events. Pfister conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 parents of children attending a school for the Deaf in Mexico City. She describes the typical process that these parents went through, which she describes as a pilgrimage: In this developing country, there is little common knowledge about deafness Most parents reported feeling devastated when they received the diagnosis that their child was Deaf, not knowing if they would ever be able to have  una plática  (chat, bonding) with their child They then typically went through a period of trying to "cure" their child through medical interventions, usually expending great effort, expenses and time with little to show for it. They often described intense hostility towards their child learning to sign from medical professionals and people in their community. Finally, they found their way to a school...
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