“I just answer ‘yes’ to everything they say”: Access to health care for deaf people in Worcester, South Africa and the politics of exclusion

Kritzinger, J. J.; Schneider, Marguerite; Swartz, Leslie; Braathen, Stine Hellum

doi:10.1016/j.pec.2013.12.006

Cited by 68 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Evidence is also growing on barriers to health care access for people with disabilities in developing country contexts. As discussed earlier in this paper, The EquitAble project has documented a number of barriers to health care experienced by people with disabilities in resource-poor settings in Africa, including South Africa, Namibia, Sudan and Malawi Kritzinger et al 2013;Swartz et al 2011;Van Rooy et al 2012). Transport, costs and distance are all important barriers, mirroring similar findings in developed countries.…”

Section: Disability and Health Carementioning

confidence: 91%

“…Moreover, different disabilities present different challenges and nuances. For example, many deaf people require sign-language interpreters to reduce communication difficulties between deaf service users and hearing practitioners (Kritzinger et al 2013). In addition, wheelchair users require wheelchairs which are correctly prescribed in accordance with international and national policy guidelines (Visagie, Scheffler, and Schneider 2013).…”

Section: Disability and Health Carementioning

confidence: 99%

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Inequities in health outcomes and access to health care in South Africa: a comparison between persons with and without disabilities

Moodley

Ross

2015

Disability & Society

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Section: Disability and Health Carementioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Disability and Health Carementioning

confidence: 99%

Inequities in health outcomes and access to health care in South Africa: a comparison between persons with and without disabilities

Moodley

Ross

2015

Disability & Society

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“…Common themes reported in qualitative studies with people with disabilities include: expensive and limited transportation to facilities, physical inaccessibility of facilities, communication problems with health staff, and staff inexperience and insensitivity with people with disabilities (6, 7). Even in South Africa, where the constitution specifically protects the rights of people with disabilities and cites access to reproductive rights in the right to access health care, this population still reports numerous difficulties (8, 9). Inaccessible and inadequate sexual and reproductive health care services can have severe implications for the health of women, especially during pregnancy (10).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“They must understand we are people”: Pregnancy and maternity service use among signing Deaf women in Cape Town

Gichane

Heap

Fontes

et al. 2017

Disability and Health Journal

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Background Women with disabilities are at disproportionate risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes, however, there is limited information on their pregnancy histories. This mixed-methods study focuses on signing Deaf women whose access to health care may be compromised by language barriers related to their disability. Objective To describe and compare the pregnancy outcomes and maternity service use of a sample of signing Deaf women of child-bearing age in Cape Town to the population of the Western Cape of South Africa. Methods We interviewed 42 Deaf women selected by non-probability snowball sampling, using a structured questionnaire in South African Sign Language in Cape Town in July 2016. Results Average parity of the sample was similar to that of the Western Cape population. Most women had one or two children (74%). Thirty-one percent of women had experienced a miscarriage and 19% had terminated a pregnancy. Almost all women (96%) attended at least one antenatal appointment during their pregnancies, and all deliveries occurred at a health facility. Women primarily relied on writing to communicate during antenatal visits and labor/delivery. The majority of women reported communication issues due to limited interpretation services, and some reported experiencing mistreatment from hospital staff. Conclusion This study provides novel information on the pregnancy histories of Deaf women. While maternal service usage was high, the quality of services were inadequate with reports of linguistic barriers and mistreatment. Findings suggest the need to improve maternity care for Deaf women through implementing interpretation services and providing sensitivity training to health care providers.

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“…Some simply dispose of their prescribed medications if they do not understand the diagnosis or the importance of medication intake [3,22]. Others with chronic diseases purposely miss the follow-up visits by sending a hearing family member or a friend to get the repeat medication in order to avoid the confusing communication and inferior care [22,23]. Medical adherence would improve if the Deaf patients could understand their diagnosed condition and participate in the decision-making process for their treatment [24,25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploration of Deaf People’s Health Information Sources and Techniques for Information Delivery in Cape Town: A Qualitative Study for the Design and Development of a Mobile Health App

Chininthorn¹,

Glaser²,

Tucker³

et al. 2016

JMIR Hum Factors

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BackgroundMany cultural and linguistic Deaf people in South Africa face disparity when accessing health information because of social and language barriers. The number of certified South African Sign Language interpreters (SASLIs) is also insufficient to meet the demand of the Deaf population in the country. Our research team, in collaboration with the Deaf communities in Cape Town, devised a mobile health app called SignSupport to bridge the communication gaps in health care contexts. We consequently plan to extend our work with a Health Knowledge Transfer System (HKTS) to provide Deaf people with accessible, understandable, and accurate health information. We conducted an explorative study to prepare the groundwork for the design and development of the system.ObjectivesTo investigate the current modes of health information distributed to Deaf people in Cape Town, identify the health information sources Deaf people prefer and their reasons, and define effective techniques for delivering understandable information to generate the groundwork for the mobile health app development with and for Deaf people.MethodsA qualitative methodology using semistructured interviews with sensitizing tools was used in a community-based codesign setting. A total of 23 Deaf people and 10 health professionals participated in this study. Inductive and deductive coding was used for the analysis.ResultsDeaf people currently have access to 4 modes of health information distribution through: Deaf and other relevant organizations, hearing health professionals, personal interactions, and the mass media. Their preferred and accessible sources are those delivering information in signed language and with communication techniques that match Deaf people’s communication needs. Accessible and accurate health information can be delivered to Deaf people by 3 effective techniques: using signed language including its dialects, through health drama with its combined techniques, and accompanying the information with pictures in combination with simple text descriptions.ConclusionsWe can apply the knowledge gained from this exploration to build the groundwork of the mobile health information system. We see an opportunity to design an HKTS to assist the information delivery during the patient-health professional interactions in primary health care settings. Deaf people want to understand the information relevant to their diagnosed disease and its self-management. The 3 identified effective techniques will be applied to deliver health information through the mobile health app.

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“I just answer ‘yes’ to everything they say”: Access to health care for deaf people in Worcester, South Africa and the politics of exclusion

Cited by 68 publications

References 12 publications

Inequities in health outcomes and access to health care in South Africa: a comparison between persons with and without disabilities

Inequities in health outcomes and access to health care in South Africa: a comparison between persons with and without disabilities

“They must understand we are people”: Pregnancy and maternity service use among signing Deaf women in Cape Town

Exploration of Deaf People’s Health Information Sources and Techniques for Information Delivery in Cape Town: A Qualitative Study for the Design and Development of a Mobile Health App

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