Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jul-Aug;137(4):730-738.
doi: 10.1177/00333549211026782. Epub 2021 Jun 23.

Community-Engaged Needs Assessment of Deaf American Sign Language Users in Florida, 2018

Tyler G James  1 , Michael M McKee  2 , Meagan K Sullivan  3 , Glenna Ashton  4 , Stephen J Hardy  4   5 , Yary Santiago  4   5 , David G Phillips  6 , JeeWon Cheong  1
Affiliations

Community-Engaged Needs Assessment of Deaf American Sign Language Users in Florida, 2018

Tyler G James et al. Public Health Rep. 2022 Jul-Aug.

Abstract

Objectives: Deaf American Sign Language (ASL) users comprise a linguistic and cultural minority group that is understudied and underserved in health education and health care research. We examined differences in health risk behaviors, concerns, and access to health care among Deaf ASL users and hearing English speakers living in Florida.

Methods: We applied community-engaged research methods to develop and administer the first linguistically accessible and contextually tailored community health needs assessment to Deaf ASL users living in Florida. Deaf ASL users (n = 92) were recruited during a 3-month period in summer 2018 and compared with a subset of data on hearing English speakers from the 2018 Florida Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (n = 12 589). We explored prevalence and adjusted odds of health behavior, including substance use and health care use.

Results: Mental health was the top health concern among Deaf participants; 15.5% of participants screened as likely having a depressive disorder. Deaf people were 1.8 times more likely than hearing people to engage in binge drinking during the past month. In addition, 37.2% of participants reported being denied an interpreter in a medical facility in the past 12 months.

Conclusion: This study highlights the need to work with Deaf ASL users to develop context-specific health education and health promotion activities tailored to their linguistic and cultural needs and ensure that they receive accessible health care and health education.

Keywords: Florida; community-engaged research; deaf; needs assessment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

    1. Mitchell RE., Young TA., Bachleda B., Karchmer MA. How many people use ASL in the United States? Why estimates need updating. Sign Lang Stud. 2006;6(3):306-335.10.1353/sls.2006.0019 - DOI
    1. Padden CA., Humphries TL. Deaf in America: Voices From a Culture. Harvard University Press; 1988.
    1. Hall WC. What you don’t know can hurt you: the risk of language deprivation by impairing sign language development in Deaf children. Matern Child Health J. 2017;21(5):961-965.10.1007/s10995-017-2287-y - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hall WC., Levin LL., Anderson ML. Language deprivation syndrome: a possible neurodevelopmental disorder with sociocultural origins. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2017;52(6):761-776.10.1007/s00127-017-1351-7 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kushalnagar P., Reesman J. Linking evidence with practice: language deprivation, communication neglect, and health outcomes. Presented at the 2019 American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association/Association of Medical Professionals With Hearing Losses Conference; June 1-4, 2019; Baltimore, MD.

LinkOut - more resources