Effectiveness of Drug Information Instructional Materials for the Deaf: Towards an Enhanced BS Pharmacy Curriculum

Abstract

Acknowledging that language barriers between the pharmacist as the health care provider and the deaf as the patient have been the most prominent limiting factor in providing accessible and quality pharmaceutical care services to the deaf, this study made use of a set of drug information instructional materials in integrating a lesson about providing patient counselling to the deaf in the course Dispensing and Medication Counselling I in the new BS Pharmacy Curriculum. The study assessed the effectiveness of the use of the said materials through a survey and through the scores obtained by BS Pharmacy student-respondents from a paired pre- and post-test, and a summative test. Findings showed that the instructional materials consist of a video and a reference guidebook were perceived by Pharmacy students as highly effective in serving its purpose. The materials were also found highly effective in improving the students’ awareness on deaf culture and communication and effective in developing their basic sign language skills used in communicating drug information. The study recommended the integration of the materials across different health education and continuing professional programs to help catalyze positive change by providing more inclusive health services to the Deaf.

Keywords

• curriculum
• deaf
• higher education
• instructional materials
• pharmacy