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Published on: February 16, 2011
Cultural and linguistic barriers to mental health service access: the deaf consumer's perspective
A G Steinberg1, V J Sullivan, R C Loew
1Department of Psychiatry, Child Guidance Center of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, PA, USA. drannie@mail.med.upenn.edu
Objective:
The authors investigated knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about mental illness and providers held by a group of deaf adults.
Method:
The American Sign Language interviews of 54 deaf adults were analyzed.
Results:
Recurrent themes included mistrust of providers, communication difficulty as a primary cause of mental health problems, profound concern with communication in therapy, and widespread ignorance about how to obtain services.
Conclusions:
Deaf consumers' views need due consideration in service delivery planning. Outreach regarding existing programs is essential.
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