Naslov
Do we Care in the Health Care? – Well-being of Deaf Patients

Autori
Pribanić, Ljubica ; Milković, Marina

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, prošireni sažetak, stručni

Skup
The 5th Academic Conference Supporting of People with Disabilities in Their Development - Towards Questions and Answers about Human Wellbeing

Mjesto i datum
Kraków, Poljska, 10.10.2017. - 12.10.2017

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
deaf people, health care, communication, Sign language, interpreting/interpreters

Sažetak
Access to health care without barriers is a clearly defined right of the people with disabilities as stated by the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (2006). Many studies report that deaf and hard of hearing patients face considerable barriers to communicating with physicians and nurses. Studies have shown that deaf and hard of hearing people use the health services in a different way. They claim that they are unsatisfied by their communication with the health professionals, do not receive sufficient messages related to the preventive healthcare, that means that public health information are not adjusted to deaf people communication and language needs, and the consequence is that they have a deficiency in knowledge of health matters comparing to the hearing people. Researchers from different countries are interested in different topics according to the healthcare services for the hearing-impaired people. In Croatia researches were focused on deaf peoples’ attitudes towards communication especially in healthcare services, cultural identity, satisfaction with life, hearing peoples’ awareness of deaf peoples’ needs and so on. According to the researches D&HH people face considerable barriers to communicating with physicians and nurses. It is well known that clear and affective communication plays very important role in the relationship and trust in physicians. Clear and affective communication is essential to safe, timely, and patient-centered care. And also, it is well known that inadequate communication may lead to wrong diagnoses and mis¬guided therapy which can lead to the very serious consequences. The barriers of the clear and effective communication can be the following: - language - it does not mean that all the D&HH people know sign language, and want to have an interpreter ; - healthcare providers should know communication strategies, how to communicate with D&HH person ; - should understand Deaf culture if a person is a member of language minority, how to communicate with interpreter mediation ; - trust is the key word that all deaf people point up! There are a lot of hurdles when trying to access health services ; they feel fear, mistrust and frustration and that is the reason that they seek medical help less frequently. The most frequent used strategies in communicating with deaf and HH patients are: - speech and lipreding ; but physicians and nurses are not aware that lipreading is almost guessing the message. Only 30% of the message can be understood! It can lead to a lot of misunderstandings ; - writing, but only a short message ; there can be a problem of understanding a complex message ; - SL interpreters: deaf people face difficulties how to find and who will pay an interpreter ; what is about trust and confidentiality ; is an interpreter a member of the family or a professional ; what is about interpreting in mental health circumstances…? Here is what Deaf and HH persons say: „ I was afraid I was not going to be understood ; I had to wait five days until my mother arrived to go there with me.” „Communication with healthcare workers is difficult, they need to understand deaf people better ; just a recipe is not enough.” „Doctors write down the time when you have to take medication, that is easy. What is hard is to understand the explanations about the disease, what is the medication for.” We can highlight some issues that D&HH persons point out: - physicians and nurses speak too fast ; - they write during speaking and do not have eye contact ; - when seating in the waiting room can be very challenging ; - X-ray, MRI examination, in dental care – following speaking instructions… So, what is our answer? Do we really care about the needs of the D&HH people in the healthcare system? What are the challenges? According to our research 65% D&HH people expresses communication difficulties, 98% of them wishes education in deaf culture and sign language for health care staff. How can we respond to these challenges? First, let us see some facts: D&HH people who considers themself as a member of Deaf community and who are fluent in national SL have deaf or bi-cultural identity consequently have better self-esteem, well mental health and better quality of life in general. So, this is the question of reconsidering deaf education! To addition, an example of good practice is offering elective course at the Faculty of Medicine or at the Medical High School. So, this is the question of future healthcare staff education!

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Edukacijsko-rehabilitacijske znanosti, Logopedija

POVEZANOST RADA