الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Adolescents with disabilities have the same reproductive health needs as the abled adolescents. Since they communicate using a specialized language (i.e., sign language), a specialized reproductive health computer application in sign language is a necessary. Aim: assess the effect of assistive technology on knowledge and practices of hearing-impaired adolescents regarding reproductive health. Design: A quasi-experimental (pre-posttest) was utilized. Setting: the study was conducted in Resala charity Association at El-Maadi district. Sample: A purposive sample of 35 hearing-impaired girl adolescents were selected. Tools: Hearing-impaired adolescent’s structured interviewing questionnaire, Hearing-impaired adolescents’ reported practices related to reproductive health, and Reproductive health computer application. Results: 37.1% of adolescents aged between 18 and less than 20 years old, 62.9 % of them were enrolled in secondary schools. There was a highly statistically significant difference found between adolescents’ total knowledge scores and total practices scores regarding reproductive health in pre, post, and follow up posttests (p<0.001). Adolescents’ total knowledge scores and total practices scores were increased in the post and follow up posttests compared to pretest scores. Conclusion: Reproductive Health Computer Application has a significant positive effect on improving hearing-impaired adolescents’ level of knowledge and practices related to reproductive health. Recommendations: Designing training programs to hearing-impaired adolescents on reproductive health through using assistive technology and that covers all organizations in different settings in Egypt, also replication of this study on a larger sample and in different settings for adolescents at deaf and hearing-impaired schools for generalization of results. |