Abstract:
Investigating student nurses’ knowledge and preparedness to provide healthcare to the
Deaf is an important step in improving access to quality health for individuals who are
Deaf. Specifically, this study brings to light the level of knowledge student nurses
have about; Deaf culture, health needs of the Deaf, communicating in sign language,
as well as preparedness to provide healthcare to patients with deafness. The study
utilised the Critical Disability Theory. The study adopted the descriptive survey
design and used questionnaire for data collection. A purposive sample of 110 final
year student nurses in Tepa Nursing and Midwifery Training College participated in
the study. Data from the questionnaire were entered into Statistical Package for Social
Sciences version 29.0 (IBM SPSS, 29.0) and analysed using descriptive statistics such
as frequency, means, and standard deviation. The findings were that majority of
student nurses have limited knowledge about Deaf culture (M = 1.90; SD = 0.22). The
study further revealed that majority student nurses have poor knowledge about the
health needs of the Deaf (M = 1.59; SD = 0.57). Furthermore, the study reported a
high proportion of student nurses having poor knowledge to communicate with the
Deaf even though student nurses reported to have studied Ghanaian Sign Language
for a semester (M = 1.74; SD = 0.12). Finally, the study revealed that majority of
student nurses in Tepa Nursing and Midwifery Training College were not adequately
prepared to provide healthcare to Deaf patients (M = 1.63; SD = 0.35). In view of
these, the study recommends an inclusion of Deaf culture and Deaf awareness
education, as well as sign language into the coursework for student nurses in all levels
by the management of Tepa Nursing and Midwifery Training College. Again, the
management of the College should integrate educational programmes, such as visiting
some Schools for the Deaf. This could contribute to the improvement of student
nurses’ knowledge and behaviour toward the Deaf
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Special Education,
Faculty of Educational Studies, submitted to the School of
Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment
of the requirement for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Special Education)
in the University of Education, Winneba
