Nursing perceptions toward Deaf and DeafBlind individuals: a cross-sectional study

Communication is a significant barrier for persons who are Deaf and persons who are DeafBlind when accessing healthcare services. Most healthcare professionals are unfamiliar with sign language, which complicates the provision of holistic care. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess differences between employed nursing professionals and nursing students in three areas: motivation to learn Croatian Sign Language, knowledge about persons who are Deaf and persons who are DeafBlind, and opinions toward them. In both questionnaires, the same questions were asked for direct comparison between the examined groups. Nursing students showed statistically significantly more positive opinions compared to employed nursing professionals (p < .001), with first-year Master's nursing students scoring the highest (p = .019). Additionally, nursing students showed greater motivation to learn sign language (p = .015). These results are consistent with other studies showing similar trends, reporting low sign language knowledge and negative emotions when working with patients who are Deaf and patients who are DeafBlind, and highlight the need to integrate sign language training and communication skills into nursing education. Findings should be interpreted considering the convenience sample from one Croatian region and the use of non-parametric analyses.