Deaf Health Review

One strategy to reduce health disparities for the Deaf is to facilitate the training of students from their communities to become healthcare providers and educators. A barrier to this strategy is the unfounded fear by medical schools that accommodating Deaf students in fast-paced, stressful rotations such as Emergency Medicine is either not possible or too difficult and expensive. Meeks et al. describe the case of a Deaf medical student who successfully completed an Emergency Department (ED) rotation, using the following strategies: The student disclosed the disability 2 months prior to the beginning of the rotation, giving the medical school staff time to craft the appropriate accommodations The ED and college disability directors held a training session for ED staff on how to work with deaf students in the clinical setting 2 weeks before the student arrived Designated interpreters with specialized training in healthcare terminology were hired for every experience the student wo...

Food insecurity is increasingly being recognized as a barrier to the success of college students. Keogh et al. conducted a survey of Deaf students at Gallaudet University (n=166) to determine their level of food security and its contributing factors. 12.9% of the students reported high food insecurity and an additional 26.4% were at-risk for food insecurity, a similar rate to the general US college population. Students who reported never receiving peer support were 16.3 times more likely to experience food insecurity than those who reported always receiving peer support. The authors conclude that the university needs to increase its efforts to promote peer support among its students. Paywalled Keogh B., Kushalnagar P., & Engelman A. (2018). Peer support and food security in deaf college students. J Am Coll Health , 10.1080/07448481.2018.1515750.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a common disease of men, but the optimal screening strategy for it is still not clear. The Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test is often used for screening for PCa, although its accuracy for this purpose is low. Because of this, the US Preventive Services Task Force recommends that the use of PSA screening be based on shared decision making (SDM) between doctors and their patients. SDM is highly dependent on effective communication, and previous research has shown this is often lacking for Deaf patients in healthcare settings. Kushalnagar et al. surveyed Deaf and hearing men in whom PSA screening was indicated; one group because of their age (45-69 years; n=162 Deaf & 708 hearing) and another group because of a family history of cancer (n=156 Deaf & 192 hearing). The Deaf men in both groups felt significantly less engaged in SDM than their hearing counterparts. For the men in the older age group who had had previous cancer, Deaf men were significantly...

It is widely assumed that after deaf children receive cochlear implants (CI) they will go on to live normal lives using audition and speaking. However, research shows more nuanced results, with some children continuing to rely on signing and experiencing difficulty communicating with peers and social isolation. Much of past research on this subject is based on surveys of the parents of these children, who may report better social functioning than their children do. Dammeyer et al. surveyed 65 Danish adolescents with CI to determine their experiences with communication, social participation and friendships, and psychological well-being. The results showed that the group overall was not too different from their hearing peers. The rates of depression and being bullied was similar to the background rates. However, 20% reported feeling lonely often or all the time, double the rate of hearing Danish adolescents, and 10.8% reported having no friends. 55.4% reported feeling different from ot...

There is a strong relationship between health and quality of life. Because health disparities have been demonstrated for Deaf communities around the world, it can be expected that they would have a lower quality of life (QOL). However, like many health-related issues concerning the Deaf, there is a lack of research on this issue. Tsimpida et al. measured QOL for a convenience sample of Greek Deaf (n=86), hard-of-hearing (n=54), and hearing (n=97) community members. QOL was measured with the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36v2). One of the researchers was a respected member of the Greek Deaf community, which helped foster trust and participation. The questionnaire was translated into Greek Sign Language as needed by the participants. The results showed that the Deaf scored lower on all dimensions of the QOL questionnaire (Physical Functioning, Role-Physical, Bodily Pain, General Health, Vitality, Social Functioning, Role-Emotional, and Mental Health). Determinants for this included the ...

Denmark has approximately 4,000 Deaf citizens who communicate primarily with Danish Sign Language. Skøt et al. are studying the barriers for the Deaf to access healthcare and psychological services after large scale natural or man-made disasters. Since there has been a shortage of these events in Denmark, they decided to conduct semi-structured interviews with Deaf or hard-of-hearing Danish who had experienced a traumatic event. Common themes that emerged included emergency responders and healthcare workers with little training or experience working with the Deaf, lack of interpreters and reluctance by the Deaf to use some interpreters due to privacy or compatibility issues, healthcare workers relying on patients' relatives to relay communications, lack of psychologists who were trained both in trauma counseling and working with the Deaf, and lack of support groups for the Deaf. The participants provided many suggestions to improve their access to care, many of which would seem u...

It is often taken for granted that children will be able to comprehend family conversations. However, over 90% of Deaf children are born to hearing parents, and there is often poor communication between them. Being able to understand family conversations is important for children's development in general and their health literacy as adults in particular. Hall et al. looked for correlations to Deaf adults being able to recall comprehending indirect family communications (not directed at them) while growing up. Having at least one Deaf parent was a very strong predictor of being able to comprehend these conversations, much more so than using hearing aids or cochlear implants. The authors conclude that parents of Deaf children can have an impact in reducing health disparities in the Deaf population. Hall, W.C., Smith, S.R., Sutter, E.J., DeWindt, L.A. & Dye, T.D.V. (2018). Considering parental hearing status as a social determinant of Deaf population health: Insights from...