Porter Ann, Edirippulige Sisira
Aussie Deaf Kids, Sydney, Australia.
J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ. 2007 Fall;12(4):518-29. doi: 10.1093/deafed/enm009. Epub 2007 Apr 24.
Parents whose children are diagnosed in an infant screening program are required to make some difficult choices about the management of the hearing loss at a time when they are emotionally vulnerable. They are required to evaluate information and outcomes regarding issues such as technology for hearing impairment, communication options, education, and rehabilitation. The World Wide Web has become an important resource of health information for both health consumers and practitioners. The ability to obtain accurate health information online quickly, conveniently, and privately provides opportunity to make informed decisions. However, little is known about the level of the use of the Internet to acquire health information, particularly in the case of parents of deaf children seeking information. This study confirms that searches for health information on the Internet are conducted primarily by mothers. In the Australian context, there is minimal online information available to families beyond early intervention. Information on education issues, mental health, and deafness or the day-to-day management of a child or adolescent with a hearing loss are neglected topics on Web sites. This study also revealed that the majority of respondents had never visited HealthInsite or Medline Plus, two gateway sites for reliable consumer health information, although the information on these sites is more generic in nature and unlikely to assist parents to make informed choices on complex issues such as communication options or education. However, the study suggested that half the parents have talked to their doctor or hearing professional about information they found on the Internet, which is an encouraging tendency.
孩子在婴儿筛查项目中被诊断出听力问题的家长，在情感脆弱之时，需要就听力损失的处理做出一些艰难抉择。他们需要评估有关听力障碍技术、沟通方式、教育和康复等问题的信息及结果。万维网已成为健康消费者和从业者获取健康信息的重要资源。能够快速、便捷且私密地在网上获取准确的健康信息，为做出明智决策提供了机会。然而，对于利用互联网获取健康信息的程度，尤其是聋儿家长寻求信息的情况，我们知之甚少。这项研究证实，在互联网上搜索健康信息的主要是母亲。在澳大利亚，除了早期干预之外，家庭可获取的在线信息极少。网站上忽视了有关教育问题、心理健康、耳聋或听力损失儿童及青少年日常管理等方面的信息。这项研究还表明，大多数受访者从未访问过健康信息网站HealthInsite或Medline Plus这两个可靠的消费者健康信息入口网站，尽管这些网站上的信息较为通用，不太可能帮助家长就沟通方式或教育等复杂问题做出明智选择。不过，该研究表明，有一半的家长已就他们在网上找到的信息与医生或听力专家进行了交流，这是一个令人鼓舞的趋势。
