The EU-funded project IDEAL which aims to develop the health literacy of deaf people began the implementation of its third part called “Learning experience to increase deaf adults health literacy”. For this step, educational materials have been developed for hard-of-hearing persons by the project partners coming from Italy, Slovakia, Spain, Hungary, and Czechia through several activities.
A3.1- Mapping deaf knowledge/skills gap
Each of the project organizations led a survey in their country to identify the needs and challenges of deaf people in accessing health information. Their answers to a questionnaire have been analyzed and transformed into graphs to facilitate the treatment of data. The questions concerned their health knowledge, their needs, their challenges, and how they communicate with the healthcare staff.
A3.2- Curriculum & learning materials
Thanks to the information gathered in the previous activity, the project partners plan to create a curriculum and training materials. The purpose here is to take into account the feedback provided by the people interviewed and provide them with means to address their needs. They will find information, recommendations, and tools to precisely target their difficulties or concerns about health literacy and communication in the healthcare system.
A3.3- Piloting learning experience
Practical activities are also programmed to give the opportunity for 75 deaf people (15 per each partner’s country) to participate in the learning experience. Through digital tools and innovative methodologies, they will increase their knowledge in the health field. The 20-hour training session will be led by 15 adult educators (3 per each partner’s country) used to work with this public. It will also be the occasion to provide feedback about the learning materials and to improve them if needed.
A3.4- Awareness-raising videos in health topics
To ensure a good dissemination of the project outcomes, 60 awareness-raising videos will be made in sign language (10 per each partner’s country and the international language sign) by deaf adults involved in the training session. With the help of the educators, they will communicate what they learned. A video is also more accessible and more pleasant for people wanting to develop their knowledge about common health issues, disease prevention, and access to health services.
