External Communication Barriers among Elderly Deaf and Hard of Hearing People in China during the COVID-19 Pandemic Emergency Isolation: A Qualitative Study.

Di Xu,Shiwen Ma,Jiaying Weng,Ziqing Zhao,Chu Yan

doi:10.3390/ijerph182111519

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a great risk to older people with hearing impairment, who face a higher threshold of external communication after the implementation of the emergency isolation policy. As part of a study on the optimization of external communication among the deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) population in central China, this study employed a qualitative research method based on in-depth interviews to explore the needs and difficulties faced by the older DHH group in external communication during public health emergencies in Wuhan, China, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results showed that older DHH people had weak reception of critical information about the epidemic, and had suboptimal access to medical care during emergency quarantine, which increased interpersonal communication barriers to this group. The current findings highlight the urgent need for targeted strengthening of the original emergency communication and coordination mechanisms in public health emergencies, and for improving policy inclusiveness for older DHH individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic and emergencies alike.

Highlights

COVID-19 has been a global outbreak [1], and on 30 January 2020, the World HealthOrganization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global health emergency of international concern
During the social isolation period, members joined a team of emergency assistance volunteers formed on an ad hoc basis to provide interpreters and other public services for deaf people in the local natural sign language used in Wuhan
After analyzing the in-depth interview data of the 13 interviewees, it is clear that the external communication barriers faced by the older deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) during social isolation were mainly focused on three areas—

Summary

Introduction

COVID-19 has been a global outbreak [1], and on 30 January 2020, the World Health. Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global health emergency of international concern. To control and prevent further spread of the outbreak, China activated the highest level of emergency response and implemented severe emergency quarantine measures in compliance with the Law on Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases (LPTID) [2]. People with disabilities are one of the groups at greater risk of infection, protection pressure and difficulty of treatment in major infectious disease outbreaks, and are often overlooked in disasters [3]. In Wuhan, China, the initial epicenter of the epidemic, 13,000 people with hearing loss were registered [4]. According to the annual tracking and monitoring data of the Hubei Disabled Persons Federation, the older disabled population aged 60 and above in Wuhan accounts for 50.27% of the total disabled population in the city, which includes 29.9% of the older deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) population [6]

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