Amazonian Medical students’ knowledge of indigenous languages and brazilian Sign language (Libras)

Abstract

Introduction: The quality of communication between the health professional and the patient is an important pillar for efficient health care. The state of Roraima is characterized by having a high percentage of indigenous individuals, in addition to other groups that demand specific communication languages. Objective: This study aimed to comparatively evaluate the levels of knowledge of Medical students and newly graduated medical professionals from Universidade Federal de Roraima (UFRR) and students from other undergraduate courses at UFRR, who do not belong to the health area, of the Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS, Língua Brasileira de Sinais) and the Macuxi, Yanomami and Wapichana indigenous languages. Method: This is a cross-sectional, observational and descriptive study, with a quantitative approach, involving 202 participants, which used a structured questionnaire applied virtually as the data collection tool. Results: The present study assessed 80 students or newly graduated doctors (39.6%), 47 engineering students or newly graduated ones (23.3%) and 75 Law students or newly graduated ones (37.1%). Of all participants, 100 were men (49.5%) and 102 were women (50.5%). There was an association between studying medicine and knowing how to speak at least one indigenous language (p = 0.0004). This relationship was not demonstrated for the Law and Civil engineering courses. An association was also identified between studying or having studied Medicine and being interested in learning LIBRAS (p = 0.0159) or being interested in learning an indigenous language (p = 0.0054). This association was not identified in students who studied or were studying Law or Civil engineering. Conclusion: Although medical participants have a higher level of knowledge about indigenous languages and LIBRAS when compared to the other courses, this does not guarantee effective health care in its entirety, since there was great difficulty related to the process of communication between them and indigenous and deaf individuals.