Scholarlink

<p>Introduction: There are approximately 50&#xa0;million people in the US who identify as Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing (HoH), of which 1&#xa0;million use American Sign Language (ASL) as their primary language. Despite this, many healthcare providers are inexperienced when communicating with Deaf/HoH patients. Methods: We designed and facilitated a workshop to teach introductory medical ASL to healthcare professional students, led by a college Linguistics professor and Deaf/HoH individual. A pre- and post-workshop survey was administered to attendees, which measured their self-reported ASL fluency, confidence in performing ASL gestures, and confidence in initiating healthcare-based interactions with Deaf/HoH patients. Results: Thirteen attendees enrolled in the study, of whom 12 completed both the pre- and post-workshop surveys; 9 were medical students and 4 were physician assistant students. Upon workshop completion, 11/12 reported an improvement in ASL fluency, 10/12 reported an improvement in confidence in properly performing ASL gestures, and 9/12 reported an improvement in confidence in initiating healthcare-based interactions with Deaf/HoH patients. Of those with no prior experience in ASL (10/12 participants), 100% of them reported an improvement in ASL fluency. Discussion: This study is the first to describe the development and implementation of an introductory medical ASL workshop for healthcare students. Our results suggest this style of education has strong potential for raising awareness of the Deaf/HoH patient population and modestly improving self-perceived ASL fluency and confidence of healthcare students. Early education in medical ASL is critical to developing culturally-competent healthcare providers and narrowing the gap in healthcare disparities for Deaf/HoH patients.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Assessing the Impact of an Introductory Medical American Sign Language (ASL) Seminar on the ASL Knowledge and Competence of Healthcare Students

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月28日

查看全文
  • Devesh Malik,
  • Sheryne Zeitoun,
  • Frances Conlin,
  • Emily Sirotich,
  • Nofrat Schwartz

摘要

Introduction: There are approximately 50 million people in the US who identify as Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing (HoH), of which 1 million use American Sign Language (ASL) as their primary language. Despite this, many healthcare providers are inexperienced when communicating with Deaf/HoH patients. Methods: We designed and facilitated a workshop to teach introductory medical ASL to healthcare professional students, led by a college Linguistics professor and Deaf/HoH individual. A pre- and post-workshop survey was administered to attendees, which measured their self-reported ASL fluency, confidence in performing ASL gestures, and confidence in initiating healthcare-based interactions with Deaf/HoH patients. Results: Thirteen attendees enrolled in the study, of whom 12 completed both the pre- and post-workshop surveys; 9 were medical students and 4 were physician assistant students. Upon workshop completion, 11/12 reported an improvement in ASL fluency, 10/12 reported an improvement in confidence in properly performing ASL gestures, and 9/12 reported an improvement in confidence in initiating healthcare-based interactions with Deaf/HoH patients. Of those with no prior experience in ASL (10/12 participants), 100% of them reported an improvement in ASL fluency. Discussion: This study is the first to describe the development and implementation of an introductory medical ASL workshop for healthcare students. Our results suggest this style of education has strong potential for raising awareness of the Deaf/HoH patient population and modestly improving self-perceived ASL fluency and confidence of healthcare students. Early education in medical ASL is critical to developing culturally-competent healthcare providers and narrowing the gap in healthcare disparities for Deaf/HoH patients.