Exploration of Deaf People's Health Information Sources and Techniques for Information Delivery in Cape Town: A Qualitative Study for the Design and Development of a Mobile Health App.
BACKGROUND
Many cultural and linguistic Deaf people in South Africa face disparity when accessing health information because of social and language barriers. The number of certified South African Sign Language interpreters (SASLIs) is also insufficient to meet the demand of the Deaf population in the country. Our research team, in collaboration with the Deaf communities in Cape Town, devised a mobile health app called SignSupport to bridge the communication gaps in health care contexts. We consequently plan to extend our work with a Health Knowledge Transfer System (HKTS) to provide Deaf people with accessible, understandable, and accurate health information. We conducted an explorative study to prepare the groundwork for the design and development of the system.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the current modes of health information distributed to Deaf people in Cape Town, identify the health information sources Deaf people prefer and their reasons, and define effective techniques for delivering understandable information to generate the groundwork for the mobile health app development with and for Deaf people.


METHODS
A qualitative methodology using semistructured interviews with sensitizing tools was used in a community-based codesign setting. A total of 23 Deaf people and 10 health professionals participated in this study. Inductive and deductive coding was used for the analysis.


RESULTS
Deaf people currently have access to 4 modes of health information distribution through: Deaf and other relevant organizations, hearing health professionals, personal interactions, and the mass media. Their preferred and accessible sources are those delivering information in signed language and with communication techniques that match Deaf people's communication needs. Accessible and accurate health information can be delivered to Deaf people by 3 effective techniques: using signed language including its dialects, through health drama with its combined techniques, and accompanying the information with pictures in combination with simple text descriptions.


CONCLUSIONS
We can apply the knowledge gained from this exploration to build the groundwork of the mobile health information system. We see an opportunity to design an HKTS to assist the information delivery during the patient-health professional interactions in primary health care settings. Deaf people want to understand the information relevant to their diagnosed disease and its self-management. The 3 identified effective techniques will be applied to deliver health information through the mobile health app.
Section of Design for Sustainability, Department of Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands.|Bridging Application and Network Gaps (BANG), Department of Computer Science, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa.
Prangnat
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1499-7118
P
Chininthorn
Department of South African Sign Language, School of Literature, Language and Media, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Meryl
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8797-2176
M
Glaser
Bridging Application and Network Gaps (BANG), Department of Computer Science, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa.
William David
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8636-7281
WD
Tucker
Section of Design for Sustainability, Department of Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands.
Jan Carel
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4007-2282
JC
Diehl
Deafness; South Africa; co-creation; community-based co-design; health; mHealth; qualitative research; sign language