SOCIAL IDEAS OF DOCTORS ABOUT BARRIERS IN COMMUNICATION WITH PATIENTS WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENTS

The article discusses the issues of communication between doctors and patients with hearing impairments, including communication methods, communication barriers, the need for sign language interpreters to be present at a medical appointment and the effectiveness of communication using alternative communication methods. Communication problems are considered from the perspective of the lack of an accessible environment, as well as an understanding of sign language as a separate linguistic system. The aim of the study is to study the existing barriers of communication with patients with disabling hearing disorders in the practice of doctors. A theoretical review of domestic and foreign studies on the communication of patients with hearing impairments in the framework of medical admission is presented. Among the main problems of people with hearing impairments related to medical care the following ones were highlighted: the complexity of communication with a doctor affects the effectiveness and quality of medical care; access to sign language interpreter services is quite limited; insufficient provision of hearing disabled people with devices for doctor–patient communication is observed. The results presented in the article were obtained by means of a survey of 49 doctors of various specialties. The survey was aimed at studying the peculiarities of communication between medical personnel and patients with hearing impairments. The questionnaire questions were open. The analysis of the responses was carried out through content analysis. As a result, problematic areas in the communication of hearing-impaired patients and doctors were identified, these are: a lack of an individual approach to such patients within the medical care, a narrow understanding of disability, a lack of sufficient number of sign language interpreters and the need for medical organizations for additional specialized training of medical personnel. Further directions of research were also defined.