(395) Access to Information on Sexual Education and Reproductive in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Women. Reference Center: Outpatient Clinic. Year 2023

Introduction People with hearing disorders are prone to stigmatization and reduced access to education in many parts of the globe. Public policies often claim to be inclusive, but frequently, people with disabilities when seeking education or healthcare struggle to obtain holistic treatment provided by qualified professionals. When it comes to the deaf population, in our country, they have been marginalized in many aspects of society; access to health and sexual education are no exception to this problem. We emphasize the relevance of this problem since there are few related papers and it is important to give visibility to this community. Objective The aim of the present work was to elucidate the access that deaf women have to information on sexual and reproductive education. Methods We conducted an observational, descriptive and transversal study approved by the medical setting authorities and Ethics Board of the University as a collective approval for students monograph research. The setting is a specific outpatient clinic in our country that is the reference center in public health for the deaf population. The study was conducted with two samples of similar characteristics, one of them was a sample of hearing women and the other one with deaf or hearing-impaired women. The measurement instrument used for data collection consisted of a self-administered form that sought to characterize the population to be studied and to evaluate some aspects of the patients’ knowledge of sexual and reproductive education. The form was applied to a group of hearing-impaired women with the help of sign language interpreters and then to a group of hearing women from the same clinic. To assist women with hearing impairment, we contacted a group of sign language interpreters. Results We recruited a total of 26 deaf or hearing impaired women and a control group of 24 hearing women. 19 of the 26 deaf women were deaf since they were born, 6 of them use hearing devices and only 1 has a cochlear implant. More deaf women had not completed elementary school compared to control group. Access to information about female cancer, birth control, STI were significantly lower in the deaf group (p < 0.005). Information about legal termination of pregnancy and pregnancy was not significantly different among groups. In terms of access to sexual education, deaf women struggled more to obtain information and most of it was via internet. Conclusions The results revealed greater misinformation in deaf women, with the areas of greatest lack of knowledge being contraceptive methods, cancer prevention, and sexually transmitted infections. Sign language in our country is not learned in schools, although there are many groups of deaf persons, the access to this courses is not part of the educational or medical training. This work attempted to be a first approach in addressing this issue in deaf women. From a future perspective, we believe that further research is necessary in this population, as well as developing specific tools, and this is only possible if more human and financial resources are allocated. Disclosure No