Availability of specialised healthcare facilities for deaf and hard of hearing individuals

• Autores: Anika S. Smeijers, Martina H. Ens Dokkum, Beppie Van den Bogaerde, Anne Marie Oudesluys Murphy
• Localización: International Journal on Mental Health and Deafness, ISSN 2226-3462, Vol. 4, Nº. 1, 2018
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Context: To allow a medical consultation to proceed successfully, it is essential that physicians are aware of the linguistic and cultural backgrounds of deaf and hard of hearing individuals (DHH) and related communication aspects. Some specialised healthcare facilities have emerged to respond to the specific needs of people who are DHH.

    Objective: This study aims to provide insight into the various types of general healthcare facilities available for DHH individuals. By sharing and comparing experiences and results improvements can be made.

    Design, Data Sources and Study selection: A systematic review of the literature on specialised healthcare for DHH people was performed. The following databases were searched: PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Academic Search Premier, CINAHL and Embase. After independent extraction per article by two readers, fifteen articles were included in the systematic review. As it appeared that not all existing locations of facilities of which we were aware were described in the literature, we expanded the data collection with internet searches, specific literature searches and unstructured interviews.

    Results: Some countries have developed facilities to meet the needs DHH people Experts and patients’ groups report that the perceived quality of healthcare and health education in specialised healthcare settings is higher compared to regular healthcare settings. Two projects undertaken to improve the health related knowledge level of DHH people, proved to be effective.

    Conclusion: Some facilities or combinations of facilities are used in different countries to attempt to meet the needs of DHH patients. These facilities are rarely described in the scientific literature. Further development of specialised healthcare facilities for DHH patients, which should include high quality studies on their effectiveness, is imperative to comply with medical ethical standards and respect the human rights of DHH people.