Department of Family Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Deaf Health Laboratory, Center for Culture and Language, National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology, USA.
Patient Educ Couns. 2023 Jul;112:107743. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2023.107743. Epub 2023 Apr 11.
Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) people report ineffective healthcare communication. Limited research has been conducted on healthcare communication during pregnancy. This study's aim was to assess communication accommodations and experiences during pregnancy for DHH people.
An accessible web-based survey was administered to a non-probability sample of DHH people through national organizations, social media, and snowball sampling. Eligibility criteria included being 21 years or older; given birth in the U.S. within the past 10 years, report hearing loss prior to the most recent birth. Questions focused on healthcare experiences and information access during their last pregnancy. The sample included 583 respondents for the present analysis. We describe the communication accommodations requested and received during pregnancy, segmented by preferred language.
Most DHH participants reported communication with prenatal clinicians as "good" or "very good". On-site interpreter services were most commonly requested by American Sign Language (ASL) only and bilingual DHH people. Interpersonal communication modification requests (e.g., speaking louder) were rarely obliged.
This study is the first national examination of requested and received communication accommodations for DHH patients during the perinatal period.
Healthcare providers should work closely with patients to ensure effective communication access is provided.
聋人和重听人（DHH）报告称医疗保健沟通效果不佳。关于怀孕期间的医疗保健沟通，研究有限。本研究旨在评估 DHH 人群在怀孕期间的沟通适应性和体验。
通过国家组织、社交媒体和滚雪球抽样，向 DHH 人群中的非概率样本提供了一个可访问的网络调查。合格标准包括年龄在 21 岁或以上；在美国境内生育，且在最近一次生育前有听力损失。问题集中在他们最近一次怀孕期间的医疗保健体验和信息获取。本研究分析的样本包括 583 名受访者。我们按首选语言描述了怀孕期间请求和获得的沟通适应性。
大多数 DHH 参与者报告说与产前临床医生的沟通“良好”或“非常好”。现场口译服务最常被仅使用美国手语（ASL）和双语 DHH 人群请求。很少有个人际沟通调整请求（例如，说话大声）被满足。
本研究是首次对围产期 DHH 患者的沟通适应性进行的全国性研究。
医疗保健提供者应与患者密切合作，确保提供有效的沟通途径。
