Bilingual Health Communication

Winner of the NCA Health Communication 2021 Distinguished Book Award. This book examines interpreter-mediated medical encounters and focuses primarily on the phenomenon of bilingual health care. It highlights the interactive and coordinated nature of interpreter-mediated interactions. Elaine Hsieh has put together over 15 hours of interpreter-mediated medical encounters, interview data with 26 interpreters from 17 different cultures/languages, 39 health care providers from 5 clinical specialties, and surveys of 293 providers from 5 clinical specialties. The depth and richness of the data allows for the presentation of a theoretical framework that is not restricted by language combination or clinical contexts. This will be the first book of its kind that includes not only interpreters’ perspectives but also the needs and perspectives of providers from various clinical specialties. Bilingual Health Communication presents an opportunity to lay out a new theoretical framework related to bilingual health care and connects the latest findings from multiple disciplines. This volume presents future research directions that promise development for both theory and practice in the field.

Winner of the NCA Health Communication 2021 Distinguished Book Award. This book examines interpreter-mediated medical encounters and focuses primarily on the phenomenon of bilingual health care. It highlights the interactive and coordinated nature of interpreter-mediated interactions. Elaine Hsieh has put together over 15 hours of interpreter-mediated medical encounters, interview data with 26 interpreters from 17 different cultures/languages, 39 health care providers from 5 clinical specialties, and surveys of 293 providers from 5 clinical specialties. The depth and richness of the data allows for the presentation of a theoretical framework that is not restricted by language combination or clinical contexts. This will be the first book of its kind that includes not only interpreters’ perspectives but also the needs and perspectives of providers from various clinical specialties. Bilingual Health Communication presents an opportunity to lay out a new theoretical framework related to bilingual health care and connects the latest findings from multiple disciplines. This volume presents future research directions that promise development for both theory and practice in the field.

Global migration continues to increase, and with it comes increasing linguistic diversity. This presents obvious challenges for both healthcare provider and patient, and the chapters in this volume represent a range of international perspectives on language barriers in health care. A variety of factors influence the best ways of approaching and overcoming these language barriers, including cultural, geographical, political and practical considerations, and as a result a range of approaches and solutions are suggested and discussed. The authors in this volume discuss a wide range of countries and languages, and cover issues that will be familiar to all healthcare practitioners, including the role of informal interpreters, interpreting in a clinical setting, bilingual healthcare practitioners and working with languages with comparatively small numbers of speakers.

Jack Pun’s book offers up the latest research in a variety of health communication settings to highlight the cultural differences between the East and the West. It focuses on the various clinical strands in health communication such as doctor-patient interactions, nurse handover, and cross-disciplinary communication to provide a broad, comprehensive overview of the complexity and heterogeneity of health communication in the Chinese context, which is gradually moving beyond a preference for Western-based models to one that considers the local culture in understanding and interpreting medical encounters. The content highlights the cultural difference between the East and the West, and focuses on how traditional Chinese values underpin the nature of clinical communication in various clinical settings and how Chinese patients and practitioners conduct themselves during medical encounters. The book also covers various topics that are unique to Chinese contexts such as the use of traditional Chinese medicine in primary care, and how clinicians translate Western models of communication when working in Chinese contexts with Chinese patients. This volume will appeal to researchers working in health communication in both the East and West as well as clinicians interested in understanding what makes effective communication with multicultural patient cohorts.

This thoroughly revised second edition covers the major areas of research, theory, and practical application in health communication. This textbook takes an in-depth approach to health communication by analyzing and critically evaluating research conducted across multiple paradigmatic perspectives and focusing on translational application of research findings. Using the story of the Montgomery family, a biracial, multigenerational family, and their health experiences as a case study, chapters explore topics including patient–provider communication, health communication in the media, ethical issues, and public health crises. New chapters cover the potential for communication to address discrimination in healthcare settings, health information seeking, social support and caregiving, and the relationship between health and environmental communication. Chapters offer pedagogical features that will prove useful to students and instructors of health communication, such as summary boxes, theory tables, suggestions for in-class activities, discussion questions, and lists of additional resources. Developed for use in advanced undergraduate and master’s level health communication and public health courses, this text represents the breadth and depth of health communication theory and research as it exists today. Online resources for instructors including additional theory tables, PowerPoint slides, test questions and assignments, sample syllabi, and lists of additional resources are available at https://www.routledge.com/9781032100470.

This book provides a rigorous and challenging review of recent research in the realms of communication and cultural diversity. Focusing on health communication interventions concerning service users who may lack fluency in English, it shows that meeting the needs of all health service users depends on both structures and processes of communication.

"Communicating in multicultural settings is a field of central interest to those involved in ensuring access to healthcare. Ever-increasing migration requires access to essential legal, medical and social services. This book provides an overview of current issues in this field through a multi-faceted approach, situating the work of potential healthcare professionals and intercultural intermediaries in the broader context of public service providers and practitioners. The book is not oriented towards one population in particular; rather it is directed towards multiple groups, mainly to students of the health sciences and medical professionals interested in communicating with migrants and visitors, and those who have to work in multicultural settings. It is not a theoretical book, nor is it rule-based by any means. It is a handbook oriented towards reflection and practice resulting from years of experience training mediators, interpreters and translators working in minority languages within multicultural settings. It can be used for self-study and independent learning, but will also be extremely useful to teachers and trainers of future doctors and medical staff who seek materials or readings for their classes. Furthermore, it represents an excellent resource for mediators, interpreters and translators who want to learn more about communication in healthcare setting"--Provided by publisher.

"Jack Pun's book offers up the latest research in a variety of health communication settings to highlight the cultural differences between the East and the West. It focuses on the various clinical strands in health communication such as doctor-patient interactions, nurse handover, and cross-disciplinary communication to provide a broad, comprehensive overview of the complexity and heterogeneity of health communication in the Chinese context, which is gradually moving beyond a preference for Western-based models to one that considers the local culture in understanding and interpreting medical encounters. The content highlights the cultural difference between the East and the West, and focuses on how traditional Chinese values underpin the nature of clinical communication in various clinical settings and how Chinese patients and practitioners conduct themselves during medical encounters. The book also covers various topics that are unique to Chinese contexts such as the use of traditional Chinese medicine in primary care, and how clinicians translate Western models of communication when working in Chinese contexts with Chinese patients. This volume will appeal to researchers working in health communication in both the East and West as well as clinicians interested in understanding what makes effective communication with multicultural patient cohorts"--