A Scoping Review of Deaf Awareness Programs in Health Professional Education

Abstract

Deaf awareness aims to promote understanding about Deaf and hard of hearing people, with the goal of reducing barriers between Deaf and hearing populations; and is particularly pertinent for health professional students as they need to learn to communicate effectively with a range of population groups. This scoping review aims to provide an overview of literature examining Deaf awareness programs provided to health professional students during their initial training. We searched four medical and public health databases and registers using terms related to Deaf awareness. We used the PRISMA-ScR reporting standards checklist for scoping reviews. We identified 10,198 citations, with 15 studies included in the final review. Searches were performed during August to September 2022, and April 2023. Studies were included provided they examined Deaf awareness content or programs within health professional education. Data were extracted by two independent reviewers who screened all abstracts using Rayyan software, followed by discussion to achieve knowledge synthesis and agreement. In all, a total of 15 articles from six countries were identified across health professional student disciplines including pharmacy, nursing, audiology, inter-professional and medical programs. The review found sparse evidence of research into Deaf awareness programs delivered to health professional students, with delivery often solely to small groups of students, indicating why so few students can access information about how to communicate effectively with Deaf and hard of hearing patients during their initial training programs. This scoping reviewed showed evidence of promising benefits for health professional students undertaking Deaf and hard of hearing awareness programs during their undergraduate education. The importance of communicating with Deaf and hard of hearing patients and attaining Deaf cultural competencies for health professional students should be investigated in future research.