Development of a bilingual interpreter program: An alternative model for Spanish-speaking services (original) (raw)
Related papers
The role of language in therapy with the Spanish-English bilingual client
Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 2002
The clinical and counseling psychology profession has witnessed a steady increase in research on the development and application of Hispanic/Latino-centered therapeutic approaches; however, little attention has been given to incorporating the dynamics of a client's language background in treatment. The authors discuss the important role of language representation and emotions and the implications for conducting therapy with bilingual clients who speak Spanish and English. The contributions of psychoanalysis and psycholinguistics that have guided the research on language issues in counseling and therapy are presented, and future directions in research, training, and practice are outlined. 1 We use the term Hispanic/Latino for two reasons. First, the group term Hispanic was created by the Office of Management and Budget and is defined as a "person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture of origin" (Marín & Marín, 1991, p. 20). The purpose of creating this term was to categorize a group of people not by country of origin but by a common language-Spanish. Second, although the term Hispanic appears in most of the counseling and psychotherapy literature, the term Latino has been growing in popularity because it represents a political consciousness and a sense of ethnic pride, particularly among those residing in the United States. We choose to use both terms interchangeably throughout the article.
The Problem With Interpreters: Communicating With Spanish-Speaking Patients
Psychiatric Services, 1991
The information obtainedfrom a non-English-speaking psychiatric patient through an untrained in terpreter can be inaccurate and misleading. The authors briefly outline the most common errors that untrained interpreters make, including omission, addition, con densation, substitution, and role exchange. They present two case examples, one in which misinter pretation led to minimization of a patient's suicide attempt and the other in which a patient's suicid ality was exaggerated. They con dude that clinicians should ob serve the behaviors of both the patient and the interpreterfor in dications oferrors that might dis tort or obscure the communication. Not uncommonly, non-English speaking patients must communi cate with English-speaking clinicians through haphazardly chosen inter preters. The information obtained through an interpreter is assumed to be an accurate account of the pa tients' verbalization. The assessment and intervention provided are also assumed to be in direct response to the patient's complaints. But is that truly the case?
Psychological Services, 2016
The discrepancy between the growing number of Spanish speakers in the U.S. and the availability of bilingual providers creates a barrier to accessing quality mental health care. Use of interpreters provides one strategy for overcoming this linguistic barrier; however, concerns about whether sessions with interpreters, versus bilingual providers, impede therapeutic alliance remain. The current study explored associations between the use of interpreters and therapeutic alliance in a sample of 452 Spanish-speaking patients seen for integrated behavioral health visits at primary care clinics. Patients completed a brief (4 item) therapeutic alliance scale at their behavioral health appointment. In addition, to supplement the quantitative study data, a pilot study of 30 qualitative interviews was conducted with a new sample of 10 Spanish-speaking patients, 10 behavioral health consultants (BHCs), and 10 trained interpreters. Quantitative results showed that interpreter use did not relate to therapeutic alliance, even when controlling for relevant demographic variables. However, qualitative interviews suggested major themes regarding the relative benefits and challenges of using interpreters for patients, interpreters, and BHCs. In interviews, patients expressed a strong preference for bilingual providers. Benefits included greater privacy, sense of trust, and accuracy of communication. However, in their absence, interpreters were seen as increasing access to services and facilitating communication with providers, thereby addressing the behavioral health needs of patients with limited English proficiency. BHCs and interpreters emphasized the importance of interpreter training and a good collaborative relationship with interpreters to minimize negative effects on the quality of care.
2007
THERAPISTS’ PERCIEVED INFLUENCE OF LANGUAGE: SECOND-LANGUAGE SPANISH-SPEAKING THERAPISTS WITH NATIVE SPANISH-SPEAKING CLIENTS Cameron David Mount Marriage and Family Therapy Program School of Family Life Master of Science Experiences of the bilingual client in therapy have received attention in the literature but accounts of the experience of the bilingual therapist are strikingly sparse. The purpose of this study was to focus on the bilingual therapist’s perception of the impact of language on the therapeutic process. To achieve this goal, the researcher interviewed therapists who speak Spanish as a second language and work with native Spanish-speaking clients. Data analysis was completed using ethnographic research methods, which resulted in the emergence of three themes. The first theme included therapists’ perceived obstacles to second-language therapy. Each of the participants in the study discussed things that made therapy in a second language more difficult for them than in t...
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 2015
This study explored whether concordance between self-and clinician-assessment of functioning differs when an interpreter is used in therapy versus when there is language congruence between the clinician and the patient, and whether concordance is affected by patient distress. Participants were 418 Spanish-speaking patients seen at one of three primary care clinics. Patients were primarily Hispanic (94 %), uninsured (65 %), and female (84 %), and ranged in age from 18 to 73 years (M = 41.70, SD = 10.70). Pearson's correlation coefficients assessed the association between self-and clinician-reports of patient functioning with and without use of an interpreter. Fisher's z transformations assessed the significance of the difference between the correlation coefficients. Although interpreter use did not significantly disrupt communication of functioning when the patient was highly distressed, there was significant discordance in clinician and patient reports in patients experiencing milder levels of distress communicating by means of an interpreter.
Service-users’ experiences of interpreters in psychological therapy: a pilot study
International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, 2014
If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information.
Multilingual environments and interpreter mediation in psychotherapy
Three psychotherapists attached to the Royal London Hospital and 6 interpreters working with the Medical Foundation for the Care of victims of Torture in London were underwent partially structured interviews for periods of up to an hour. Each was requested to survey their experiences of psychotherapy in the English language through the intermediary of an interpreter or by means of the psychotherapist second language, also English. Interviews from 1 bilingual therapist and 5 interpreters were selected on the basis of audio recording quality for transcription. After transcription, key words and phrases were identified and grouped for similarity of concept. 28 groupings were then identified and classified by theme. The themes are reported, and ranked in order of frequency. The frequency of occurrence of a theme is presumed to signify the relative importance of the theme to the multilingual environment. These are discussed and suggestions for further work provided.