Impact of communication on preventive services among deaf American Sign Language users

Deaf American Sign Language (ASL) users face communication and language barriers that limit healthcare communication with their providers. Prior research has not examined preventive services with ASL-skilled clinicians.

The goal of this study was to determine whether provider language concordance is associated with improved receipt of preventive services among deaf respondents.

This cross-sectional study included 89 deaf respondents aged 50-75 years from the Deaf Health Survey (2008), a Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey adapted for use with deaf ASL users. Association between the respondent's communication method with the provider (i.e., categorized as either concordant-doctor signs or discordant-other) and preventive services use was assessed using logistic regression adjusting for race, gender, income, health status, health insurance, and education. Analyses were conducted in 2010.

Deaf respondents who reported having a concordant provider were more likely to report a greater number of preventive services (OR=3.42, 95% CI=1.31, 8.93, p=0.0122) when compared to deaf respondents who reported having a discordant provider even after adjusting for race, gender, income, health status, health insurance, and education. In unadjusted analyses, deaf respondents who reported having a concordant provider were more likely to receive an influenza vaccination in the past year (OR=4.55, p=0.016) when compared to respondents who had a discordant provider.

Language-concordant patient-provider communication is associated with higher appropriate use of preventive services by deaf ASL users.