Access to adequate healthcare services and information can be difficult for Deaf people, as they often do not have access to interpreters in this setting and are often forced to use inadequate strategies like lip reading and written notes to communicate. In addition, Deaf people tend to have a lower ‘health literacy’ compared to the general population, as they often miss out on incidental learning – for example overhearing and learning health information from family conversations, waiting room discussions, advertisements and other information in public spheres. This means the average Deaf patient may be less familiar with medical terms, preventative healthcare information, common illnesses, and health system processes – in other words, information hearing people may take for granted and rely on when navigating the health system.
This presentation reports on a New Zealand study that explored the various obstacles to access health services, including health literacy, from the perspective of Deaf users of New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) themselves. We collected 40 stories in NZSL from Deaf people in Christchurch, Palmerston North, Auckland, and Hamilton, through an open interview process in which participants were asked to share their experiences of accessing information in the NZ health system. We analysed the stories thematically using a narrative inquiry framework, which allowed us to explore what health literacy means to Deaf people in their own lives, in their own words.
In our presentation we will share an overview of the main themes that arose in our analysis, including common barriers to accessing and understanding health information from the perspective of Deaf participants. We will share video excerpts from the narrative analysis, to explore participants’ lived realities of trying to access crucial health information from a position of lower health literacy. We found that many participants had a clear understanding of what knowledge they were missing and why, and some presented clear ideas for solutions, which are relevant not only to the Deaf community, but also to health practitioners, educators, and policy makers.
