Accessibility of deaf women to the public health system of the Basque Country (Spain)

Objective: To explore what are the perceptions and experiences of deaf women in relation to accessibility to the Basque Public Health System (Osakidetza). As a secondary objective, explore the experience of these women about gender violence. Method: A qualitative study with exploratory design is developed. The selection of the informants was carried out through intentional sampling. Deaf women were invited to participate through the Federation of Deaf People of the Basque Country. Four discussion groups were developed between October 2013 and July 2014, with duration of 90-120 minutes. The discussion groups were recorded in video for their later literal transcription in which the service of interpreters of sign language of Euskadi participated.Thematic analyses carried out. Results: Three main categories arise: 1) feelings of discrimination and limitation of the principle of autonomy; 2) barriers and facilitators in the accessibility to the health system: and 3) vulnerability of deaf women as a result of the lack of communication. Conclusions: Nowadays, deaf women continue having difficulties in accessing to the health system in our context. The results of this study can be the starting point for the development of health policies and institutional protocols. (C) 2019 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espafla, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).