School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
Southern Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland, UK.
BMC Med Educ. 2019 Jun 24;19(1):227. doi: 10.1186/s12909-019-1666-z.
Communication with healthcare professionals is challenging for those with hearing loss. This study aimed to determine the impact dedicated deaf awareness training could have on medical student's attitudes to and knowledge of deafness, and to explore ways of incorporating deaf awareness training into the core undergraduate medical curriculum.
A validated questionnaire was used to measure attitudes to and knowledge of deafness in those taking an optional deaf awareness and basic sign language module for second year medical students compared to students who took another module. Previous students on this module were also contacted and asked to complete the same questionnaire. Focus groups with these students explored ways to incorporate deaf awareness training into the core undergraduate medical curriculum.
After completing the module, students had a more positive attitude to deaf individuals (p < 0.001), and higher knowledge scores (p = 0.027) in comparison to the control group. Examination of data revealed a significant negative association between years since undertaking the module and attitudes score (r = - 0.29, p = 0.04, n = 51), with no significant association for knowledge score (r = 0.22, p = 0.11, n = 52). Focus groups suggested integrating deaf awareness training into existing undergraduate communication skills teaching, with the inclusion of deaf tutors.
This study indicates that incorporating a specialist module on deafness can improve attitudes to and knowledge of deafness. Importantly, this effect decreases over time, demonstrating the need for refresher training amongst junior doctors.
对于听力损失者来说，与医疗保健专业人员进行沟通具有挑战性。本研究旨在确定专门的聋人意识培训对医学生对聋人态度和知识的影响，并探索将聋人意识培训纳入核心本科医学课程的方法。
使用经过验证的问卷，比较参加第二年医学生可选的聋人意识和基本手语模块的学生与参加另一模块的学生对聋人态度和知识的测量。还联系了以前上过这个模块的学生，并要求他们完成相同的问卷。与这些学生进行焦点小组讨论，探讨将聋人意识培训纳入核心本科医学课程的方法。
完成模块后，学生对聋人个体的态度更为积极（p<0.001），知识得分也更高（p=0.027），与对照组相比。对数据的分析表明，完成模块的年限与态度得分之间存在显著的负相关（r=-0.29，p=0.04，n=51），与知识得分之间没有显著的相关性（r=0.22，p=0.11，n=52）。焦点小组建议将聋人意识培训纳入现有的本科沟通技巧教学中，并纳入聋人导师。
本研究表明，纳入专门的聋人模块可以提高对聋人的态度和知识。重要的是，这种效果随着时间的推移而减弱，表明初级医生需要进行复习培训。
