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The Deaf Community's Experiences Navigating COVID-19 Pandemic Information

BACKGROUND: Users of American Sign Language (ASL) who are deaf often face barriers receiving health information, contributing to significant gaps in health knowledge and health literacy. To reduce the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its risk to the public, the government and health...

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Autores principales: Panko, Tiffany L., Contreras, Jessica, Postl, Daphine, Mussallem, Ashley, Champlin, Sara, Paasche-Orlow, Michael K., Hill, Joseph, Plegue, Melissa A., Hauser, Peter C., McKee, Michael
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SLACK Incorporated 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8241230/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34213997
http://dx.doi.org/10.3928/24748307-20210503-01
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author Panko, Tiffany L.
Contreras, Jessica
Postl, Daphine
Mussallem, Ashley
Champlin, Sara
Paasche-Orlow, Michael K.
Hill, Joseph
Plegue, Melissa A.
Hauser, Peter C.
McKee, Michael
author_facet Panko, Tiffany L.
Contreras, Jessica
Postl, Daphine
Mussallem, Ashley
Champlin, Sara
Paasche-Orlow, Michael K.
Hill, Joseph
Plegue, Melissa A.
Hauser, Peter C.
McKee, Michael
author_sort Panko, Tiffany L.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Users of American Sign Language (ASL) who are deaf often face barriers receiving health information, contributing to significant gaps in health knowledge and health literacy. To reduce the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its risk to the public, the government and health care providers have encouraged social distancing, use of face masks, hand hygiene, and quarantines. Unfortunately, COVID-19 information has rarely been available in ASL, which puts the deaf community at a disadvantage for accessing reliable COVID-19 information. OBJECTIVE: This study's primary objective was to compare COVID-19–related information access between participants who are deaf and participants who are hearing. METHODS: The study included 104 adults who are deaf and 74 adults who are hearing who had participated in a prior health literacy study. Surveys were conducted between April and July 2020 via video conference, smartphone apps, or phone calls. COVID-19 data were linked with preexisting data on demographic and health literacy data as measured by the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) and the ASL-NVS. KEY RESULTS: Neither group of participants differed in their ability to identify COVID-19 symptoms. Adults who are deaf were 4.7 times more likely to report difficulty accessing COVID-19 information (p = .011), yet reported using more preventive strategies overall. Simultaneously, adults who are deaf had 60% lower odds of staying home and calling their doctor versus seeking health care immediately or doing something else compared with participants who are hearing if they suspected that they had COVID-19 (p = .020). CONCLUSIONS: Additional education on recommended COVID-19 management and guidance on accessible health care navigation strategies are needed for the deaf community and health care providers. Public health officials should ensure that public service announcements are accessible to all audiences and should connect with trusted agents within the deaf community to help disseminate health information online in ASL through their social media channels. [HLRP: Health Literacy Research and Practice. 2021;5(2):e162–e170.] PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: Compared to participants who are hearing, a higher portion of participants who are deaf reported challenges with accessing, understanding, and trusting COVID-19 information. Although respondents who are deaf had similar knowledge of symptoms compared to participants who are hearing, they used more prevention strategies and were more likely to plan immediate care for suspected symptoms. Improved guidance on COVID-19 management and health care navigation accessible to the deaf community is needed.
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spelling pubmed-82412302021-07-13 The Deaf Community's Experiences Navigating COVID-19 Pandemic Information Panko, Tiffany L. Contreras, Jessica Postl, Daphine Mussallem, Ashley Champlin, Sara Paasche-Orlow, Michael K. Hill, Joseph Plegue, Melissa A. Hauser, Peter C. McKee, Michael Health Lit Res Pract Original Research BACKGROUND: Users of American Sign Language (ASL) who are deaf often face barriers receiving health information, contributing to significant gaps in health knowledge and health literacy. To reduce the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its risk to the public, the government and health care providers have encouraged social distancing, use of face masks, hand hygiene, and quarantines. Unfortunately, COVID-19 information has rarely been available in ASL, which puts the deaf community at a disadvantage for accessing reliable COVID-19 information. OBJECTIVE: This study's primary objective was to compare COVID-19–related information access between participants who are deaf and participants who are hearing. METHODS: The study included 104 adults who are deaf and 74 adults who are hearing who had participated in a prior health literacy study. Surveys were conducted between April and July 2020 via video conference, smartphone apps, or phone calls. COVID-19 data were linked with preexisting data on demographic and health literacy data as measured by the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) and the ASL-NVS. KEY RESULTS: Neither group of participants differed in their ability to identify COVID-19 symptoms. Adults who are deaf were 4.7 times more likely to report difficulty accessing COVID-19 information (p = .011), yet reported using more preventive strategies overall. Simultaneously, adults who are deaf had 60% lower odds of staying home and calling their doctor versus seeking health care immediately or doing something else compared with participants who are hearing if they suspected that they had COVID-19 (p = .020). CONCLUSIONS: Additional education on recommended COVID-19 management and guidance on accessible health care navigation strategies are needed for the deaf community and health care providers. Public health officials should ensure that public service announcements are accessible to all audiences and should connect with trusted agents within the deaf community to help disseminate health information online in ASL through their social media channels. [HLRP: Health Literacy Research and Practice. 2021;5(2):e162–e170.] PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: Compared to participants who are hearing, a higher portion of participants who are deaf reported challenges with accessing, understanding, and trusting COVID-19 information. Although respondents who are deaf had similar knowledge of symptoms compared to participants who are hearing, they used more prevention strategies and were more likely to plan immediate care for suspected symptoms. Improved guidance on COVID-19 management and health care navigation accessible to the deaf community is needed. SLACK Incorporated 2021-04 2021-06-22 /pmc/articles/PMC8241230/ /pubmed/34213997 http://dx.doi.org/10.3928/24748307-20210503-01 Text en ©2021 Panko, Contreras, Postl, et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) ). This license allows users to copy and distribute, to remix, transform, and build upon the article non-commercially, provided the author is attributed and the new work is non-commercial.
spellingShingle Original Research
Panko, Tiffany L.
Contreras, Jessica
Postl, Daphine
Mussallem, Ashley
Champlin, Sara
Paasche-Orlow, Michael K.
Hill, Joseph
Plegue, Melissa A.
Hauser, Peter C.
McKee, Michael
The Deaf Community's Experiences Navigating COVID-19 Pandemic Information
title The Deaf Community's Experiences Navigating COVID-19 Pandemic Information
title_full The Deaf Community's Experiences Navigating COVID-19 Pandemic Information
title_fullStr The Deaf Community's Experiences Navigating COVID-19 Pandemic Information
title_full_unstemmed The Deaf Community's Experiences Navigating COVID-19 Pandemic Information
title_short The Deaf Community's Experiences Navigating COVID-19 Pandemic Information
title_sort deaf community's experiences navigating covid-19 pandemic information
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8241230/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34213997
http://dx.doi.org/10.3928/24748307-20210503-01
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