DescriptionHealth literacy has been defined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) as "the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.” Inadequate health literacy has effects on a person’s health beyond age, income, employment status, education level, and race. Cultural and linguistic minorities are at greater risk for having low health literacy. Members of the Deaf ASL community define themselves as a cultural and linguistic minority group. Persons who are Deaf are at risk for low health literacy for a number of reasons including socioeconomics, poor education and linguistic discordance with their health care provider.
The research question that this study considered is: How does someone who is Deaf obtain, process, and understand basic health information and use that information to make appropriate health decisions? An ethnographic study was conducted in order to understand health literacy from the perspective of someone who is culturally Deaf. The informed consent was translated into American Sign Language (ASL) and video recorded. Twelve interviews and 75 hours of participant observation were conducted. All interviews took place in a place of privacy with 2 interpreters.
The themes that were identified were: communication, going to the doctor, audism, Deaf culture, family, and privacy. Themes were identified based on observations across interviews and participant observation. Many themes were interrelated. Several implications for future research and practice were noted including how privacy with the Deaf community impacts health literacy, how family dynamics may influence health literacy with the Deaf community and the effect of having an in-person interpreter versus a virtual interpreter during a visit with a health care provider.