title: A pilot program in rural telepsychiatry for deaf and hard of hearing populations.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Access to mental health care in deaf communities is limited by cultural considerations, availability of translators, and technological considerations. Telepsychiatry can mitigate the deaf community's lack of access to care by allowing for deaf individuals in remote communities access to care with facilities that cater to their needs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Community Behavioral Health, Arundel Lodge, and Gallaudet University worked in conjunction to test three hypotheses: 1.Telepsychiatry will be as effective as traditional face-to-face psychotherapy with deaf adults who have chronic mental illness.2.Patients living in remote locations will report an improvement in accessibility to mental health services.3.Patients who receive telepsychiatry will report a comparable level of satisfaction of services to those receiving traditional services. The patient sample consisted of 24 participants, 13 women, 11 men. Telepsychiatry sessions were scheduled based on each patient's individual treatment plan against a control group who saw their providers face to face.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The telepsychiatry and in-person groups were slightly different at baseline. Analysis of the data revealed no significant difference in coping abilities and psychiatric symptoms between those receiving face-to-face psychotherapy and those receiving telepsychiatry.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The quality and outcome of care was equal to in-person for the telepsychiatry in deaf patients. Since telepsychiatry does not compromise the quality of care, it is a good means of reaching out to members of the deaf community that cannot readily access mental health resources that meet their needs.
authors.affiliation: Hall Memorial Building, Gallaudet University, 800 Florida Avenue, NE Washington, DC 20002-3695, United States.
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Crowe
authors.affiliation: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital/McLean Hopsital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02144, United States.
authors.forename: Suni
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jani
authors.affiliation: Community Behavioral Health, 426 Dorchester Ave, Cambridge, MD 21613, United States.
authors.forename: Sushma
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jani
authors.affiliation: Community Behavioral Health, The George Washington University School of Medicine, 821 Eastern Shore Drive, Salisbury, MD 21804, United States.
authors.forename: Niranjan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jani
authors.affiliation: Touro College of Medicine, 230 W 125th Street, New York, NY 10027, United States.
authors.forename: Raja
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jani
keywords: Health services; Health systems; Mental health