As of 2007, approximately 2 to 3 million children and adolescents in the United States had been identified as deaf or hard of hearing. These children are affected by all of the same health issues as hearing children, but are presented with an added challenge of communication with hearing nurses who are not always prepared with ways to understand and communicate with them. As a result, deaf and hard of hearing children are at a greater risk for misguided treatment of health disorders, especially the undertreatment of pain. It is imperative that nurses understand ways to best interpret nonverbal communication from these children and to effectively respond to these children nonverbally. Current research has neglected discovering and discussing ways to improve communication with deaf, hard of hearing and nonverbal children, focusing instead on improving verbal communication between nurses and parents, thereby leaving children as passive participants in their own health care. The results of this integrated literature review present simple and effective strategies nurses can implement into daily practice to facilitate communication nonverbally with deaf and hard of hearing children. The use of appropriate technology and assessment tools, better understanding and enhanced use of facial expressions, eye gaze, touch, presence, and personal space were examined. The writing of this review is an effort to encourage nurses and nursing educators to integrate culturally competent care of deaf and hard of hearing children into everyday nursing practice and into a nursing educational curriculum.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses1990-2015-2061 |
| Date | 01 January 2010 |
| Creators | Watkins, Lydia J. |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | HIM 1990-2015 |
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