TiZNA - Deaf inclusive emergency department

Worldwide, it is assumed that around 0.1% of the total population is deaf. According to the Deutscher Gehörlosen-Bund e.V. (German Association for the Deaf), there are around 83,000 deaf people in Germany. According to Statista (2023), there are also 252,000 people with other hearing impairments.

The fact that deafness as such affects access to healthcare for those affected has already been proven several times. This research project on the topic of “Barriers in the everyday hospital life of deaf people” aims to investigate the specific shortcomings of the healthcare system to which deaf people are exposed and the extent to which similarities and differences can be found within clinical care compared to the situation of hearing people. The project focuses on the question of the relevance and effects of educational work on deafness in a specific exemplary situation in a hospital, in this case the emergency room.

Interfaces between study content and healthcare include the following: Ensuring interpreting activities, legal regulations on active participation, structural and institutional barriers, the frequent assumption that deaf people are able to lip-read, as well as a low presence of German Sign Language and the culture of deaf people in the public sphere.

An online survey will be used to qualify the current situation in everyday clinical practice for deaf people. This will be followed by situational role plays, which will take place before and after an information session about deafness. The knowledge gained will be published in the form of training material and ensure greater accessibility in hospitals.

Student research project,  sponsored by the ISA Center of Hamburg University.

Research group:

Lara-Sophie Isernhagen

Alina Hinrichs

Jana Gmelin

Mentors:

Alexander Eisenzimmer

Britta Harms

Prof. Dr. Annika Herrmann

Andrea Schaffers

Duration:

2023 - 2024

Funding:

Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Studienangebote (ISA-Zentrum), Universität Hamburg

(The Video above presents the text in German Sign Language, i.e. DGS)