Improving Cancer Literacy for the Deaf Using Deaf-Tailored Educational Interventions: a Review of the Literature

To date, there have been many strategies, including educational interventions, for cancer prevention and control, but most of them are not deaf-tailored ones. This narrative review aimed to examine cancer educational programs to improve the deaf individuals’ knowledge and attitude toward cancer. The design of this study is a narrative review. We searched ISI Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct, and MEDLINE/PubMed using the following search strategy: (“cancer education” AND “deaf”) OR (“cancer” AND “deaf” AND literacy). Publication years ranged from 1983 to 2016 for studies on cancer educational interventions for the deaf. Included studies were analyzed regarding research methodologies, types of intervention, and major findings. In total, 12 included studies were classified into three research methodologies. Although short-term and long-term knowledge improvement has been reported, since there is limited evidence on the types of cancer-related educational interventions and there are insufficient studies, longterm effectiveness of educations in improving cancer knowledge of the deaf has to be reported cautiously. Current deaf-tailored education interventions are limited, but included functional features which facilitate communicating cancer health information to the deaf community. In fact, cancer literacy might improve considering deaf community preferences such as using a short open caption, sign language, and plain language in educational interventions, but further research is recommended.