Teaching Brazilian Sign Language during medical students' training: the perception of future physicians

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To assess the perception of medical students regarding the discipline Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) during their academic training.

Methods

Cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study, including medical students from the city of Salvador, Bahia, over 18 years old. A virtual, semi-structured questionnaire was applied, containing sociodemographic, academic and Libras (communication, learning, importance in medical training and curriculum offer) aspects.

Results

Of the 240 students evaluated, 82.9% do not know how to communicate through Libras, however 95.8% believe that the discipline is necessary in the medical curriculum. As for the curricular offer, students consider that it should be mandatory (55.2%) and in the face-to-face modality (75.7%). The main reasons for not taking the course were because it was optional (41.7%) and lack of time (33.3%). It was identified that women give more importance to this training (p=0.0013) and this perception is independent of age, administrative nature of the institution and ongoing academic cycle.

Conclusion

Medical students have a favorable perception of the teaching of Libras in medical education. However, most of these students did not attend the discipline in their academic careers and believe that serving this public is challenging.

Keywords:
People with hearing impairment; Medical education; Medical students; Medical care; Sign language