Deaf women's experiences and satisfaction with prenatal care: a comparative study.
OBJECTIVE
The quality of communication between physician and patient is a major contributor to patient satisfaction and treatment adherence. Deaf patients who use American Sign Language experience significant communication barriers in most medical settings. This study investigated factors impacting deaf patients' satisfaction with prenatal care and prenatal care disparities between deaf and hearing women.


METHODS
Questionnaires modified from Omar and Schiffman's prenatal satisfaction measure were administered to 23 deaf and 32 hearing women.


RESULTS
Deaf women were less satisfied than hearing women with physician communication and less satisfied with overall care. Deaf women's expectations about provision of interpreter services being met or exceeded was significantly associated with overall satisfaction. Hearing women had more prenatal care appointments and reported receiving more information from their doctors.


CONCLUSIONS
Maximizing communication effectiveness with deaf patients results in better prenatal care and improved patient satisfaction. Good communication includes conveying concern and making efforts to ensure that whatever communication methods used are effective.
O'Hearn
Amanda
A
University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642, USA. amanda_ohearn@urmc.rochester.edu
D003144:Communication Barriers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000592:standards; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends; D012107:Research Design; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires