Fatores dificultadores para o acesso e educação em saúde de pessoas surdas em Belém-Pará

Abstract

The reduction of the listening capacity promotes social, cultural, and linguistic barriers, mainly on the access of the deaf community to health, compromising humanized care and welfare. Research on that type of need can resolve those problems. The present study aims to identify the main challenges of deaf people on the access to health in Belém/Pará and the consequences on health education. The methodology of the study was descriptive observational and transversal study, with quantitative approach, using a questionary made by the authors, based on the Likert school, with questions about the accessibility rate, understanding, and independence of those disabled people in health services and the epidemic profile, applying the questionary online, in portuguese and translated in LIBRAS to the deaf community of Belém, over 18 years old, regardless of gender, that uses the health services in Belém, mapped with the help of the “Coordenadoria de Acessibilidade da Universidade Federal do Pará” and the “Captação e Profissionais da Educação e Atendimento à Pessoa Surda Center”, with 27 participants. The demographic results revealed that most participants were women, 20 to 39 years old, from Pará’s capital, with incomplete University education, with advanced or intermediary Portuguese knowledge, using mostly public service, and having for main communication oral speak, labial lectures,s, and LIBRAS. The results about the main difficulty factors on access to health services show the unprepared professionals and the lack of structural services, like translators and assistencial technologies. Regarding the medical appointments, the results show that all services are given none satisfy experiences. Therefore, mostly the participants consider mandatory LIBRAS knowledge. It was concluded that the difficult access of the deaf community to the health service is pertinent and it becomes the development of more studies aimed at this population to support the search for greater professionalization of health workers treated to the accessibility and integration of minorities, as well as technical assistance measures.