Building the therapeutic alliance within a psychiatric outpatient unit for deaf and hard-of-hearing patients: patient and professional perspectives

To explore aspects of establishing alliance between patient and professional within a psychiatric outpatient unit for deaf and hard-of-hearing patients. The informants were four experienced professionals (psychologist, nurse, occupational therapist, social worker) and ten congenitally deaf patients, five men and five women. The interviews were conducted using different interview guides for patients and professionals. The transcribed interviews were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Four themes emerged from the data. These themes were all factors influencing different aspects of the establishment of alliance: Involving an interpreter, Mental health professionals with sign language skills, Swedish as a second language, and Knowledge of deaf identity. This study, in line with other previous studies, indicates that acquiring knowledge about deaf culture, learning sign language and being aware of the lower literacy rate among deaf people is important in communication and the creation of a stronger bond with deaf patients within psychiatry. Professional interpreters are a vital part of psychiatry, but professionals need to know and adapt to the different effects it can have on alliance-building with the patient.