Information literacy of deaf parents: study of information sharing and sources

Abstract

The study aims to reflect on information literacy, from the sharing and sources of information used by parents of deaf people in their daily informational actions. It is believed that this process can encourage learning about information related to deafness. This is an exploratory and descriptive study, with a qualitative and quantitative approach. A field research was adopted, whose data collection instrument was the questionnaire. The target population consisted of 34 parents who have their deaf children attended by two institutions specialized in the area of ​​deafness in the northern region of the state of Paraná (BR). The results obtained indicated that the most used sources of information were: other parents of deaf people, family members, specialized sites on deafness, health centers (doctors, nurses) and the institutions that integrated the study. Among the informational skills, the following stand out: knowing how to use information to participate in the life of the deaf child; use the information to help the deaf child and know how to locate and use the information when they need it. It concludes that deaf parents, when developing the technical, cognitive and attitudinal skills of information literacy, can deal with information and consequently with deafness in a more conscious and reflective way. In addition, when they feel that they belong to the deaf community, they can multiply their knowledge by learning, sharing and producing information from different sources, with which they can deal with challenges and difficulties.