Language as a Trigger for Racism: Language Barriers at Healthcare Institutions in Slovenia (original) (raw)
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2019
Based on the research conducted within the framework of the project “Together for Health – Skupaj za zdravje” led by National Institute of Public Health (2014–2016), the first part of the chapter presents several obstacles – legal and administrative barriers in formal access to Slovene public healthcare system as well as language and cultural barriers – that migrants/refugees face in the healthcare system in Slovenia. In the second part of our contribution, the authors discuss some approaches aimed at overcoming these obstacles that were implemented as part of the same project. Namely, a proposal for systemic changes on the level of legislation, an introduction of an intercultural mediator for women from the Albanian-speaking community in two Slovene healthcare institutions, a training course on cultural competence for healthcare workers and a selfevaluation tool for the measurement of the level of equity in the healthcare institutions. Through a critical analysis of these approache...
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This paper focuses on healthcare communication and the impact of specialised language within doctor-patient relations in an intercultural context and from a gender-oriented perspective. A sample of twenty migrant Romanian female patients was surveyed to explore the way they perceived interactions with physicians back in Romania and the way they do so in Spain today. Providers of health services for linguistic minorities are expected to cope with needs and cultural beliefs, expectations and behaviours in an effective and culturally sensitive way. My hypotheses are: doctors and patients' perceptions of medical terms with various degrees of scientificity differ; the usage of medical terms with face-threatening effects influences the doctor-patient relationship; the interpreter, as a third party who mediates doctor-patient interactions can overcome misunderstandings. The two first hypotheses will be contrasted with the results of my survey analysis, whereas the third is dealt with in previous research in the matter.
Factors Beyond the Language Barrier in Providing Health Care to Immigrant Patients
Medical Archives, 2016
Background: Due to the enormous migration as the result of war and disasters during the last decades, health systems in Europe are faced with various cultural traditions and both healthcare systems and healthcare professionals are challenged by human rights and values. In order to minimize difficulties in providing healthcare services to patients with different cultural backgrounds, cultural competence healthcare professionals are needed. Material and Methods: Four focus group interviews, were conducted with Kurdish immigrants in Scandinavian countries (N=26). The majority were males (n=18) aged between 33-61 years (M= 51.6 years) and a few were (n=8) females aged 41-63 years (M=50.7 years). The data were analyzed by using qualitative content analysis method. Results: According to the study results participants experienced that diversities both in culture and healthcare routines create a number of difficulties regarding contact with healthcare services. Though culture related aspects influenced the process of all contact with health care services, the obstacles were more obvious in the case of psychological issues. The results of the study showed that cultural diversities were an obvious reason for immigrants' attitudes regarding healthcare services in resettlement countries. Conclusion: The results of the study revealed a number of difficulties beyond linguistic problems regarding immigrants' contact with healthcare services in Scandinavian countries. Problems were rooted both in diversities in healthcare services and cultural aspects. Immigrants' views of healthcare systems and healthcare professionals' approach in providing healthcare were some of the problems mentioned.
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Materia Socio Medica, 2014
Background: We aimed to explore the background of refugees emigrating to Sweden and their situation in the new country with special focus on their contacts with the Swedish healthcare system. Material and methods: Our study has a qualitative design. Data was collected between January and October 2013 during face-to-face interviews using open-ended questions. A qualitative content analysis was carried out in accordance with the Graneheim and Lundman method (2004). The participants were 8 women and 7 men, aged between 65 and 86 years who had emigrated from Bosnia and Herzegovina. They had lived in Sweden between 13 and 21 years. Results: The findings revealed that the participants themselves experienced that change of scenery, culture and language influenced their own well-being. The most important finding was that language and communication difficulties are experienced as the major problems. These difficulties implied that all informants were forced to seek help from their children or to use an interpreter when they visited various healthcare institutions. Conclusions: Health care professionals need to be aware of the diverse needs of various ethnic groups in Sweden, some of whom may carry traumatic experiences that could influence their health. In order to provide trans cultural care, a professional staff needs to know that historical, political and socioeconomic factors may influence ethnic minorities. Health care staff needs to recognize that social problems might be medicalized. In particular this article emphasizes the problems associated with language.
LANGUAGE BARRIER AS AN OBSTACLE TO GET ACCESS TO MEDICAL CARE.doc
INTED2018 (12th annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference), 2018
Doctor – patient communication is a common thing if both of them represent a common culture and speak the same language. The difficulties arise when the participants of the dialogue are from different cultures and do not speak the same language. This situation is not uncommon in multicultural and multilingual countries. Health care in many western countries is faced with the fact that the non-native population has diverse languages and ethnic characteristics. The diversity of the local population and immigrants affect the major aspects of treatment, such as the patient's record at admission, description of symptoms, description of the disease, the presentation of personal data, marital status, and discussion of diagnosis or compliance with treatment. This problem is obvious through personal contacts. The challenge that humanity faces is the necessity to build bridges of intelligibility among the languages and to respect cultural identities. In today’s world (especially in Europe) health and administrative services need interpreters more urgently than ever before. The authors mention three main barriers to overcome: language, cultural, emotional. Working as researchers and interpreters, the authors have developed certain understanding of the problem. The work can be useful for both the beginners and experienced interpreters.
A pilot study of language and culture mediation in medical settings in Moscow.pdf
The paper analyzes provision of medical interpreting services at border crossing points in the Russian Federation. It is argued in the article that medical interpreting at border crossing points should be viewed as linguacultural mediation in the context close to emergency situations, which requires specific interpreter's competences. The article aims at indenting relevant competences of medical interpreters at border crossing points through conducting an experiment on quality of medical services provision to migrants and refugees in terms of effective interpreter assisted doctorepatient communication. The research methodology rests on cluster, factor and discriminant analysis and integrated two stages: desk and field stages. To conduct the survey part an open-ended questionnaire has been developed which included 7 items. The survey was anonymous and involved native speakers of Arabic, Pashto, Dari, Uzbek, Tajik languages. The conducted research made it possible to identify factors that negatively influenced ultimate assessment of medical services provision at border crossing points. These factors are two-fold: the fists category relates to organizational issues such as lack of specific medicines and doctors with narrow specialization, stressful atmosphere and lengthy border crossing procedure;