title: Health promotion via deaf-friendly ministries.
abstract: Deaf community members face many barriers to accessing health information. This paper discusses the feasibility of creating a nationwide network of Deaf-friendly ministries to help disseminate cancer information in American Sign Language (ASL) to the Deaf community. Deaf-friendly ministries (N = 403), identified through Internet searches and one-on-one referrals, were sent up to three mailed invitations to join the network. Over half of the ministries responded, with 191 (47.4 %) of the ministries joining the network, completing a baseline survey and receiving ASL cancer education videos to share with members of their congregation and community. Fifteen (3.7 %) responded that they were not interested or no longer had a Deaf-friendly ministry; the rest did not respond or their invitations were returned as undeliverable. As the program progressed, an additional 238 Deaf-friendly ministries were identified. To date, 61 (25.6 %) agreed to participate after the single invitation that was mailed. This network of Deaf-friendly ministries offers a promising dissemination partner.
authors.affiliation: Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA. gsadler@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Georgia Robins
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Sadler
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Branz
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fager
authors.forename: Aron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marie
authors.forename: Suzuho
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shimasaki
mesh_terms: D060345:Education of Persons with Hearing Disabilities; D006077:Government Agencies / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012813:Sign Language; D014743:Videotape Recording