Kaskowitz Sommer R, Nakaji Melanie C, Clark Karen L, Gunsauls Darline Clark, Sadler Georgia Robins
UCSD School of Medicine, UCSD School of Medicine's American Sign Language, Deaf Culture, and Cancer Control Program, Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA 92093-0658, USA.
Cancer Detect Prev. 2006;30(5):439-48. doi: 10.1016/j.cdp.2006.09.001. Epub 2006 Nov 13.
A review of the scientific literature yielded no examples of programs that were designed to give deaf men access to information about prostate cancer, early detection, and treatment. The community's diverse linguistic abilities, multiple preferences for receiving information, and the small size of the community, create additional challenges for health educators.
A prostate cancer education program was adapted for deaf men (N=121), with the goal of creating a single program that could meet the educational needs of this diverse community. The program was evaluated using baseline, post-test, and two-month follow-up surveys, plus focus group discussions.
Overall, baseline knowledge about prostate cancer and awareness of the screening options for the early detection of prostate cancer increased significantly at post-test and this gain was maintained at the two-month follow-up. While prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening and digital rectal exams also increased among men 50 and older, the increase was not statistically significant, possibly a consequence of the small sample size. Participants' reported their preferred methods of communication. Greater knowledge gains were demonstrated among those who preferred communications via American Sign Language (ASL) versus English-based communications.
Cancer education programs offered in ASL can help address health knowledge disparities and that in turn can contribute to alleviating these disparities. Clinicians and health educators can help raise the deaf community's health awareness through programs such as this one, which ultimately evolved into the Internet accessible ASL video: Prostate Cancer: Know Your Options.
对科学文献的回顾未发现旨在让聋人男性获取有关前列腺癌、早期检测和治疗信息的项目实例。该群体多样的语言能力、接收信息的多种偏好以及群体规模较小，给健康教育工作者带来了额外挑战。
针对聋人男性（N = 121）改编了一项前列腺癌教育项目，目标是创建一个能满足这个多样化群体教育需求的单一项目。使用基线调查、测试后调查和两个月随访调查以及焦点小组讨论对该项目进行评估。
总体而言，在测试后，关于前列腺癌的基线知识以及对前列腺癌早期检测筛查选项的知晓度显著提高，且这一提升在两个月随访时得以维持。虽然50岁及以上男性中前列腺特异性抗原（PSA）筛查和直肠指检也有所增加，但增幅无统计学意义，这可能是样本量小的结果。参与者报告了他们偏好的交流方式。与基于英语的交流方式相比，偏好通过美国手语（ASL）交流的人知识增长更大。
用美国手语提供的癌症教育项目有助于解决健康知识差距问题，进而有助于缓解这些差距。临床医生和健康教育工作者可以通过这样的项目帮助提高聋人群体的健康意识，该项目最终演变成了可通过互联网访问的美国手语视频：《前列腺癌：了解你的选择》。
