Date of Award
Spring 5-15-2020
Document Type
Thesis
First Advisor
Roseanne Rushing
Second Advisor
Abbi Simons
Abstract
Background: Communication barriers, the lack of proficiency in English, and poor communication with medical providers affect some Deaf people negatively in terms of health literacy. One contemporary controversial health literacy issue affecting Deaf people concerns vaccines. According to the literature, parents with higher health literacy are less likely to vaccinate their children as opposed to those parents with low health literacy (Veldwijk, van der Heide, Rademakers, Schuit, de Wit, Uiters & Lambooij 2015). Studies have shown that the majority of the deaf population have relatively low health literacy; however, vaccine literacy in the deaf population has not been investigated. Research suggests that vaccine literacy in the deaf population is relatively low compared to the general population due to communication barriers such as American Sign Language as their primary language. Methods: This study focuses on investigating vaccine literacy in the deaf population. The sample for this study included 88 Deaf adults who were born to hearing parents and use American Sign Language as their primary language. They responded to a questionnaire regarding their background and health literacy as the quantitative approach in the study. Eleven participants from the study sample were randomly selected to be interviewed more in-depth regarding their perceptions of their vaccine literacy for the qualitative approach of this study. Results: The findings demonstrated that there is an overall low vaccine literacy in the Deaf population. The participants’ reports consisted of five main themes: (a) awareness of childhood vaccinations, (b) source of information, (c) influence of family, (d) informed decisions, and (e) accessibility at the doctor’s visit. The data showed that low vaccine literacy in the Deaf population can be attributed to communication barriers, lack of proficiency in English, and/or poor communication with medical providers. As for communication barriers, it was found that VACCINE LITERACY IN DEAF ADULTS Peck 4 the most statistically significant source of health information was through parental mode of communication. Within this, data demonstrated that family as the source of health information is that family is a good source of health information for those whose parents use ASL at 45.8% in the sample, compared to those whose parents that do not at 18.8% in the sample, while family is not a good source of health information for those whose parents use ASL at 11.4% in the sample compared to those parents who do not at 31.4% in the sample: (χ2 : 11.142, P value = 0.004). Conclusion: Understanding the factors that lead to low vaccine literacy in the Deaf community can help health professionals to communicate more effectively with Deaf individuals in order to make an informed decision. This can ultimately help increase the overall health literacy in the Deaf community.
Recommended Citation
Peck, Casey Lee, "Vaccine Literacy Among Deaf Adult American Sign Language Users of Hearing Parents" (2020). Undergraduate University Honors Capstones. 72.
https://ida.gallaudet.edu/honors_capstones/72
