Nursing students' knowledge of working with D/deaf and hard of hearing patients: Evaluation of a deaf awareness elearning package.

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate a newly developed Deaf awareness e-learning package with nursing students at one university in Wales, UK.

Background: D/deaf and hard of hearing communities face a multitude of barriers when accessing and receiving healthcare leading to under diagnosis of health conditions and poorer health outcomes in general. Lack of awareness, teaching, and exposure to the D/deaf and hard of hearing populations during health care professional training programmes has been shown to contribute to this health disparity.

Design: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used with two cohorts of undergraduate nursing students at one university in Wales, UK who were invited to undertake a Deaf awareness eLearning package developed with D/deaf communities in Wales.

Methods: Nursing student engagement and course completion were monitored, and evaluation survey questionnaires were implemented.

Results: The Deaf awareness eLearning package evaluation showed engagement with over 400 nursing students, who scored the package an overall mark (1 to 5 stars) of 4.72 out of 5. In total, 227 nursing students completed the eLearning package and received the certificate. Students reported finding the eLearning package very interactive, easy to navigate, thought the three-hour length was about right. However, we would like to know more about factors that influence student non-engagement and dropout.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that eLearning Deaf awareness programs can be successful in increasing knowledge and confidence around communicating with D/deaf and hard of hearing patients for nursing, with potential benefits for wider rollout across wider health and care student and staff populations.

Registration Number: Grant number: 101010662\737073].

Tweetable Abstract: D/deaf and hard of hearing patients experience barriers in healthcare so health professionals need accessible Deaf awareness training. Our eLearning model shows promise.