Perception of Ghanaian healthcare students towards the learning of sign language as course

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic Characteristics

Variable	Category	Frequency (n=666)	Percentage (%)
Age
	15–20	96	15.8%
	21–25	178	29.3%
	26–30	184	30.3%
	Above 30	150	24.7%
	Total	608	100%
Gender
	Male	160	24%
	Female	462	69.4%
	Total	622	100%
School
	Public	360	58.4%
	Private	256	74.3%
	Total	616	100%
Tertiary Education
	Nursing/Midwifery T.C	416	65.8%
	University	214	33.9%
	Other	2	3%
	Total	632	100%
Religion
	Christianity	584	90.4%
	Islamic	62	9.6%
	Total	646	100%
Programme
	Nursing	270	41.7%
	Midwifery	218	33.6%
	Other	160	24.7%
	Total	648	100%
Level/Year
	Level 100/Year 1	30	4.6%
	Level 200/Year 2	92	14.2%
	Level 300/Year 3	384	59.1%
	Level 100/Year 1	144	22.2%
	Total	650

Source: Field Survey, 2020

Table 2. Health Students Perception on the introduction of GHSL into the curriculum by demographic characteristics

		Incorporating GHSL into Health-Related Programs is a good Initiative
		Agree	Neutral	Disagree	Chi-square (χ2)	P- Value
		N (%)	N %	N %
Age	15–20	72(81.8%)	10(11.4%)	6(6.8%)	24.059***	.001
	21–25	160(94.1%)	8(4.7%)	2(1.2%)
	26–30	150(90.4%)	6(3.6%)	10(6.0%)
	Above 26	130(94.2%)	0(0.0%)	8(5.8%)
Gender	Male	132(88.0%)	6(4%)	12(8.0%)	4.321	.115
	Female	392(92.0%)	18(4.2%)	16(3.8%)
School	Public	298(88.7%)	22(6.5%)	16(4.8%)	11.267**	.004
	Private	222(94.9%)	2(0.9%)	10(4.3%)
Tertiary Education	Training College	364(92.9)	16(4.1%)	12(3.1%)	10.822**	.029
	University	168(86.7%)	8(4.2%)	18(9.4%)
Religion	Christianity	492(91.1%)	22(4.1%)	26(4.8%)	0.452	.798
	Islamic	54(90.0%)	2(3.3%)	4(6.7%)
Programme	Nursing	240(93.8%)	4(1.6%)	12(4.7%)	24.994***	.000
	Midwifery	182(94.8%)	4(2.1%)	6(3.1%)
	Other	128(83.1%)	16(10.4%)	10(6.5%)
Level/Year	Level 100/Year 1	28(93.3%)	2(6.7%)	0(0.0%)	26.221***	.000
	Level 200/Year 2	68 (79.1%)	10(11.6%)	8(9.3%)
	Level 300/Year 3	322(92.0%)	8(2.3%)	20(5.7%)
	Level 400/Year 4	130(95.6%)	4(2.9%)	2(1.5%)

Source: Field Survey, 2020 (*p< .05)

Table 3. Perceive Advantages of learning GHSL to Individual Health Students by Age

Variable		Age
		15–20	21–25	26–30	Above 30
		N %	N %	N %	N %	P-Value
The learning of GHSL can help me to become more diverse	Agree	72(83.7%)	152(93.8%)	144(92.3%)	118(95.2%)	.009*
	Neutral	12(14.0%)	6(3.7%)	8(5.1%)	2(1.6%)
	Disagree	2(2.3%)	4(2.5%)	4(2.6%)	4(3.2%)
Learning of Sign language is important to all health workers	Agree	66(75.0%)	144(88.9%)	154(95.1%)	124(93.9%)	.000*
	Neutral	16(18.2%)	14(8.6%)	2(1.2%)	0(0.0%)
	Disagree	6(6.8%)	4(2.5%)	6(3.7%)	8(6.1%)
The learning of sign language can be of important to me even outside healthcare	Agree	76(88.4%)	154(97.5%)	148(96.1%)	118(95.2%)	.015
	Neutral	10(11.6%)	4(2.5%)	6(3.9%)	6(4.8%)
The learning of sign language is important for all students but not only health sciences	Agree	66(76.7%)	138(87.3%)	142(95.9%)	126(94.0%)	.000*
	Neutral	14(16.3%)	10(6.3%)	2(1.4%)	4(3.0%)
	Disagree	6(7.0%)	10(6.3%)	4(2.7%)	4(3.0%)
Acquisition of sign language skills can enhance my job prospect	Agree	68(81.0%)	134(82.7%)	132(85.7%)	124(	.106
	Neutral	12(14.3%)	22(13.6%)	16(10.4%)	6(4.5%)
	Disagree	4(4.8%)	6(3.7%)	6(3.9%)	2(1.5%)

Source: Field Survey, 2020 (*p< .05)

Table 4. Importance of learning GHSL to the deaf community by Academic programe

		Have you learned sign language before
		Yes				No
		Programme				Programme
		Nursing	Midwifery	Other	P- Value	Nursing	Midwifery	Other	P- Value
		N %	N %	N %		N %	N %	N %
Learning Sign language will help me understand deaf people	Agree	78 (100.0%)	70 (92.1%)	110 (94.8%)	.005	146 (93.6%)	98 (96.1%)	30 (88.2%)	.014
	Disagree	0(0.0%)	4(5.3%)	0(0.0%)		2(1.3%)	4(3.9%)	0(0.0%)
Learning Sign language will help me service my deaf patient well	Agree	74 (97.4%)	72 (92.3%)	98 (87.5%)	.132	152 (96.2%)	98 (94.2%)	30 (83.3%)	.030
	Disagree	0(0.0%)	2(2.6%)	2(1.8%)		2(1.3%)	4(3.8%)	2(5.6%)
The learning of GHSL can help bring the deaf and hearing people together	Agree	76 (97.4%)	76 (92.7%)	104 (94.5%)	.232	140 (90.9%)	90 (88.2%)	26 (81.3%)	.225
	Disagree	0(0.0%)	2(2.4%)	0(0.0%)		4(2.6%)	2(2.0%)	0(0.0%)

Source: Field Survey, 2020 (*p< .05)

Table 5. Health Student Perception towards Maintaining of GHSL in their Curriculum

		GHSL should be maintain in the curriculum of health institution
		Yes	Don’t Know	No	Chi-square (χ2)	P value
		N %	N %	N %	22.682***	.001
Age	15–20	72(81.8%)	12(13.6%)	4(4.5%)
	21–25	142(84.5%)	16(9.5%)	10(6.0%)
	26–30	148(90.2%)	6(3.7%)	10(6.1%)
	above	122(92.4%)	0(0.0%)	10(7.6%)
Gender	Male	132(88.0%)	8(5.3%)	10(6.7%)	.489	.783
	Female	364(87.5%)	28(6.7%)	24(5.8%)
School	Public	282(83.9%)	32(9.5%)	22(6.5%)	14.057***	.001
	Private	208(92.9%)	4(1.8%)	12(5.4%)
Tertiary Education	Training College	342(88.1%)	30(7.7%)	16(4.1%)	13.276**	.010
	University	160(86.0%)	6(3.2%)	20(10.8%)
Religion	Christianity	462(87.2%)	34(6.4%)	34(6.4%)	1.911	.385
	Islamic	56(93.3%)	2(3.3%)	2(3.3%)
Programme	Nursing	234(92.9%)	6(2.4%)	12(4.8%)	39.073***	.000
	Midwifery	168(90.3%)	4(2.2%)	14(7.5%)
	Other	120(77.9%)	24(15.6%)	10(6.5%)
Level/Year	Level 100/Year 1	26(86.7%)	2(6.7%)	2(6.7%)	11.199	.082
	Level 200/Year 2	64(78.0%)	10(12.2%)	8(9.8%)
	Level 300/Year 3	312(90.7%)	14(4.1%)	18(5.2%)
	Level 400/Year 4	118(86.8%)	10(7.4%)	8(5.9%)
Have you learned sign language before	Yes	246(87.2%)	20(7.1%)	16(5.7%)	1.128	.569
	No	278(88.5%)	16(5.1%)	20(6.4%)

Source: Field Survey, 2020 (*p< .05)

Table 6. Predictors of health students’ perception about hospital providing professional interpreters instead of health students learning GHSL

Variables	B	S.E.	Exp(B)	Sig.	95% C.I.for EXP(B)
					Lower	Upper
Age (years)
15–20
21–25	−.011	.411	.989	.978	.442	2.215
26–30	−.469	.282	.625	.097	.360	1.088
Above 30	.028	.231	1.028	.903	.654	1.617
Gender
Male	1.00
Female	.138	.218	1.148	.526	.748	1.762
School
Public	1.00
Private	.189	.237	1.208	.427	.758	1.923
Tertiary Education
Nursing & Midwifery	1.00
University	−20.99	2841.20	.930	.999	.067	1.356
Others	−21.346	2819.20	.871	.999	.235	2.235
Religion
Christian	1.00
Islamic	.294	.313	1.342	.348	.726	2.480
Programme
Nursing	1.00
Midwifery	.780	.348	2.183	.025	1.104	4.316
Others	.745	.360	2.106	.038	1.041	4.261
Level/Year				.
Level/Year (1)	1.00
Level/Year (2)	.151	.464	1.163	.744	.469	2.889
Level/Year (3)	−.476	.361	.621	.188	.306	1.261
Level/Year (4)	−.456	.247	.634	.065	.391	1.029
Ever learn sign language
Yes	1.00
No	−.160	.204	.852	.432	.572	1.270
Model fitting information
−2Log Likelihood					792.376
Hosmer-Lemeshow χ^2 (significance)					17.719
Nagelkerke R^2					0.056

Source: Field Survey, 2020 (*p< .05)