IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v10y2020i3p66-d413118.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Language Discordance in Mental Health Services: An Exploratory Survey of Mental Health Providers and Interpreters

Author

Listed:
  • Mansha Mirza

    (College of Applied Health Sciences, Occupational Therapy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA)

  • Elizabeth Harrison

    (College of Applied Health Sciences, Occupational Therapy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA)

  • Jacob Bentley

    (School of Psychology, Family, and Community, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA 98119, USA)

  • Hui-Ching Chang

    (Honors College, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222, USA)

  • Dina Birman

    (Educational and Psychological Studies Department, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA
    Institute of Psychology and Education, Kazan Federal University, 42008 Kazan, Russia)

Abstract

Global migration has contributed to greater language diversity in many parts of the world. Many migrants experience language barriers in their adopted countries. Language barriers hinder access to healthcare, including mental health. There exists little research on the extent of communication difficulties during language discordant mental health services. A cross-sectional observational study design was used to examine prevalence of communication challenges, use of communication best practices, and training needs among mental health providers and interpreters working with immigrants with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) in the United States. Using snowball sampling methods, 38 providers and 34 interpreters were recruited to complete online surveys. Challenges reported by interpreters pertained to technicalities of communication, while those reported by providers pertained to content of communication. Communication best practices such as pre-session briefings and post-session debriefings were used infrequently by providers in the sample. Providers with higher education levels were more likely to endorse some best practices. Fifty-four percent of the providers and 84% of the interpreters were interested in additional training in working with patients with LEP. Findings suggest the need for customized trainings for providers and interpreters to improve the quality of mental healthcare for patients with LEP.

Suggested Citation

  • Mansha Mirza & Elizabeth Harrison & Jacob Bentley & Hui-Ching Chang & Dina Birman, 2020. "Language Discordance in Mental Health Services: An Exploratory Survey of Mental Health Providers and Interpreters," Societies, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-14, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:10:y:2020:i:3:p:66-:d:413118
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/10/3/66/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/10/3/66/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abe-Kim, J. & Takeuchi, D.T. & Hong, S. & Zane, N. & Sue, S. & Spencer, M.S. & Appel, H. & Nicdao, E. & Alegría, M., 2007. "Use of mental health-related services among immigrant and US-born Asian Americans: Results from the National Latino and Asian American Study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(1), pages 91-98.
    2. Drennan, Gerard & Swartz, Leslie, 2002. "The paradoxical use of interpreting in psychiatry," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 54(12), pages 1853-1866, June.
    3. Alegría, M. & Mulvaney-Day, N. & Woo, M. & Torres, M. & Gao, S. & Oddo, V., 2007. "Correlates of past-year mental health service use among Latinos: Results from the National Latino and Asian American Study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(1), pages 76-83.
    4. Jackson, J.S. & Neighbors, H.W. & Torres, M. & Martin, L.A. & Williams, D.R. & Baser, R. & Lowe, J., 2007. "Use of mental health services and subjective satisfaction with treatment among Black Caribbean immigrants: Results from the National Survey of American Life," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(1), pages 60-67.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Audrey L. Jones & Susan D. Cochran & Jane Rafferty & Robert Joseph Taylor & Vickie M. Mays, 2020. "Lifetime and Twelve-Month Prevalence, Persistence, and Unmet Treatment Needs of Mood, Anxiety, and Substance Use Disorders in African American and U.S. versus Foreign-Born Caribbean Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-22, September.
    2. Angie M. Schock-Giordano, 2013. "Ethnic Families and Mental Health," SAGE Open, , vol. 3(1), pages 21582440134, February.
    3. Ellen Heidinger, 2021. "Overcoming Barriers to Service Access: Refugees’ Professional Support Service Utilization and the Impact of Human and Social Capital," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1151, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    4. Ellen Heidinger, 2023. "Overcoming Barriers to Service Access: Refugees’ Professional Support Service Utilization and the Impact of Human and Social Capital," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 271-312, March.
    5. Hongyun Fu & Mark VanLandingham, 2012. "Mental Health Consequences of International Migration for Vietnamese Americans and the Mediating Effects of Physical Health and Social Networks: Results From a Natural Experiment Approach," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(2), pages 393-424, May.
    6. Kilian, Sanja & Swartz, Leslie & Dowling, Tessa & Dlali, Mawande & Chiliza, Bonginkosi, 2014. "The potential consequences of informal interpreting practices for assessment of patients in a South African psychiatric hospital," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 159-167.
    7. Weber, Sabine & Landolt, Markus A. & Maier, Thomas & Mohler-Kuo, Meichun & Schnyder, Ulrich & Jud, Andreas, 2017. "Psychotherapeutic care for sexually-victimized children – Do service providers meet the need? Multilevel analysis," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 165-172.
    8. Lee, Hee Yun & Zhou, Anne Q. & Lee, Richard M. & Dillon, Amy L., 2020. "Parents’ functional health literacy is associated with children’s health outcomes: Implications for health practice, policy, and research," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    9. Pylypchuk, Yuriy & Selden, Thomas M., 2008. "A discrete choice decomposition analysis of racial and ethnic differences in children's health insurance coverage," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 1109-1128, July.
    10. Xu, Yanfeng & Wang, Xiafei & Ahn, Haksoon & Harrington, Donna, 2018. "Predictors of non-U.S. born mothers' parenting stress across early childhood in fragile families: A longitudinal analysis," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 62-70.
    11. Khuu, Belle P. & Lee, Hee Y. & Zhou, Anne Q. & Shin, Jihee & Lee, Richard M., 2016. "Healthcare providers' perspectives on parental health literacy and child health outcomes among Southeast Asian American immigrants and refugees," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 220-229.
    12. Park, So-Young & Lee, Jungup & Cheah, Charissa S.L., 2021. "The long-term effects of perceived parental control and warmth on self-esteem and depressive symptoms among Asian American youth," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    13. Andrew Found & Carlos Duarte, 2013. "The etiology of mental disorders: Public endorsement of traditional Chinese beliefs in Macau," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 59(8), pages 789-800, December.
    14. Shik, Angela W.Y., 2013. "Integrating creative art into a community-based mental health program for Asian American transition age youth," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 377-383.
    15. James Livingston & Nimesh Patel & Stephanie Bryson & Peter Hoong & Rodrick Lal & Marina Morrow & Sepali Guruge, 2018. "Stigma associated with mental illness among Asian men in Vancouver, Canada," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 64(7), pages 679-689, November.
    16. Deumert, Ana, 2010. "'It would be nice if they could give us more language' - Serving South Africa's multilingual patient base," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 53-61, July.
    17. Sanya Virani & Tianxu Xia & Navjot Brainch & Souparno Mitra & Saeed Ahmed & Herbert Mutasiigwa & Gaurav Chaudhari & Deval Zaveri, 2020. "Scaling the great wall: The impact of communication barriers on quality of psychiatric care in Chinese patients," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 66(2), pages 150-155, March.
    18. Millett, Lina Sapokaite & Seay, Kristen D. & Kohl, Patricia L., 2015. "A national study of intimate partner violence risk among female caregivers involved in the child welfare system: The role of nativity, acculturation, and legal status," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 60-69.
    19. Margaret Ralston & Xavier Escandell, 2012. "Networks Matter: Male Mexican Migrants’ Use of Hospitals," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 31(3), pages 321-337, June.
    20. GT Koopmans & E Uiters & W Devillé & M Foets, 2013. "The use of outpatient mental health care services of migrants vis-à -vis Dutch natives: Equal access?," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 59(4), pages 342-350, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:10:y:2020:i:3:p:66-:d:413118. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.