Sordità e gravidanza: la voce delle donne tra criticità e nuovi spunti comunicativi

BACKGROUND: The problem of communication with deaf pregnant women and the resulting communicative barrier between them and the midwifery staff compromise the compliance during the prenatal and the postnatal period. This condition determines a disadvantage between deaf women and hearing women. OBJECTIVE / AIM: Investigate the problems that deaf women have to face during the whole midwifery assistance concerning the pregnancy, and which communicative strategies are used in order to overcome this communicative barrier. METHODS: Survey among hypoacusic women using a questionnaire sent to ENS in Italy. It selected the answer provided by deaf women who have experienced at least one childbirth throughout the last 10 years of their life have been considered. CONCLUSION: It is clear that the best way to tackle this problem is to give deaf pregnant women the possibility to be addressed or refer themselves to an interpreting service supplied by health facilities.