Background: We wanted to validate reports that deaf persons have difficulty obtaining medical care by comparing physicians' attitudes towards these patients with physicians' attitudes toward their patients in general.
Methods: Two questionnaires were randomly distributed to physicians attending continuing medical education conferences at the University of Michigan during a 3-month period. The questionnaires were identical except that one asked about deaf patients and the other about patients in general. The questions assessed the respondent's perceptions of communication with patients, attitudes toward their patients, knowledge of current information about deaf people, and demographics.
Results: One hundred sixty-five physicians responded, 94 to the general questionnaire and 71 to the deaf questionnaire. The two physician groups were similar demographically, but 165 differed significantly in communication and attitude variables. Physicians receiving the questionnaire focusing on deaf patients reported greater difficulties in understanding (P < 0.001) and maintaining free-flowing conversations (P < 0.001), and that these patients had more difficulty understanding them (P < 0.001), trusted them less (P < 0.001), asked them to repeat statements more often (P < 0.001) and were less likely to understand the diagnosis and recommended treatments (P < 0.001). Physicians also reported feeling less comfortable with deaf patients (P < 0.001) and that they asked fewer questions (P < 0.001). Physicians were more likely to say that deaf patients rely on interpreters (P = 0.040), get frustrated easily (P < 0.001), and are harder to communicate with (P < 0.001). There were no significant differences between the two groups in knowledge about deaf people. All physicians, however, displayed ignorance about their legal obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act to provide interpreters for their deaf patients.
Conclusions: Physicians surveyed about deaf patients reported significantly greater difficulties communicating with and different attitudes toward these patients than physicians surveyed about their patients in general. All physicians were unaware of their obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act to provide interpreters for deaf patients. Research is needed to determine whether physician attitudes and beliefs affect the actual quality of care they deliver to deaf patients.