ERIC Number: EJ1383201
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-2333-4851
Available Date: N/A
Barriers to Effective Health Education in Deaf K-12 Schools
Alpern, Rebecca Royzer; Panko, Tiffany L.; McCann-Pineo, Molly; Jones, Courtney Marie Cora; Rotoli, Jason
Journal of Health Education Teaching, v13 n1 p25-42 2022
Purpose: The Deaf community is an ethnolinguistic minority whose lack of access to mainstream health information limits health literacy. This study describes barriers to teaching high school health education in US K-12 Deaf schools. Methods: An online survey with English and American Sign Language (ASL) instructions were emailed to administrators at sixty schools for the Deaf. Descriptive statistics were conducted to describe study sample, health class curriculum topics and perceived student knowledge of said topics. All statistical analyses were completed using SAS version 9.4 (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC). Results: Twenty-five schools (42%) anonymously responded. Ninety-two percent of schools reported a lack of resources for teaching health education. Only 12% of schools reported having a nationally certified health teacher. Student knowledge was perceived to be poor to satisfactory regarding mental health, self-advocacy, and family medical history. Conclusions: This study found the most notable barriers to health education were difficulty hiring qualified health teachers and severe lack of resources for teaching. The subjects with the greatest lack of resources were also among topics in which students had the poorest perceived knowledge. Recommendations: Additional opportunities for future research could include a comparison to hearing schools in the US, assessing health care knowledge among deaf students in mainstream schools, or completing a similar survey to compare results to comparable schools for the Deaf outside of the United States. Additionally, future research could assess actual student knowledge of the subjects that were queried and compare to existing health disparities in the community. [The volume number (12) shown on the PDF is incorrect. The correct volume number for this article is 13.]
Descriptors: Health Education, Elementary Secondary Education, American Sign Language, Deafness, Barriers, Administrators, Curriculum Development, High Schools, Equal Education
Journal of Health Education Teaching. 9563 Wedge Way, Delmar, MD 21875. Tel: 443-880-0394; e-mail: JofHET@yahoo.com; Web site: http://jhetonline.com/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education; High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A